By Emmanuel Nduka
Nigeria’s House of Representatives has passed a resolution against granting of consent by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) to divest International Oil Companies (IOCs) until there is full compliance with the guidelines for decommissioning and the regulations made under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).
Lawmaker Ikenga Ugochinyere’s motion on Wednesday contained the resolution.
According to the motion, most of the IOCs involved in petrol operations in the country are closing up their petroleum operations in Nigeria and relocating out of the country, without clearly following or complying with the decommissioning and abandonment guidelines as prescribed by NUPRC and enshrined in the PIA.
Heritage Times HT reports that the House Committee on Petroleum (Upstream) is to lead an investigation into the matter, along with other oil and gas committees of the House.
The House also mandated its Committees on Treaties, Protocols and Agreements, and on Legislative Compliance to carry out an investigation after considering a motion on an Allegation of Execution of Slave Agreement between Nigerian Miniseries, Departments and Agencies with China.
Hon. Ahmed Doro, who moved the motion, told the house that the Federal Ministry of Finance, the Debt Management Office, and other government institutions have developed interest in obtaining loans from Chinese State entities and have increased Nigeria’s debt exposure to China.
The lawmaker said a careful review of the loans with these Chinese entities, indicates that the loans are one sided, and are tantamount to slavery.
