New Telegraph

FG begins imported contaminated fuel probe

…considers compensation for victims …grants citizenship to 286 foreign nationals
…as FEC okays N13bn contracts for aviation petroleum resources ministries

The Federal Government has commenced investigation into the supply of contaminated petrol which is giving motorists serious concerns in Nigeria. This was disclosed by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, who briefed State House Correspondents, after the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting at the Presidential Villa yesterday. Sylva, who cautioned against drawing conclusions before the end of the probe, also hinted that the government was considering compensations for the victims of the contaminated fuel. According to him, the decision to probe followed a briefing on the issue to President Muhammadu Buhari Tuesday with the aim of getting to the bottom of the matter. Asked whether the matter was discussed at FEC and what fate awaits the suppliers of the contaminated fuel, Sylva said: “The issue did not come up in Council. Of course, you will recall I was here yesterday to brief Mr. President on the issue. I’m not in a position to disclose the identities of the companies, but there are some issues and we are actively tackling it.

“Nobody has, before now, checked for methanol in our fuel. It’s not very usual and this is the first time this is happening and NNPC is very much up to the task. “I will also convey your question to NNPC and maybe the Midstream and DownstreamRegulatoryAuthority, but we’re actively handling it and I want to assure you that the problem will be a thing of the past very soon.” The minister assured that the government would consider compensating those who may have been adversely affected by the bad fuel.

On possible sanctions for the companies, he stated: “I didn’t expect you to rush to any conclusions. There’ll be a major investigation to unravel everything and then let’s really get to the bottom of it before we can come back and tell you what is going to happen to the culprits.

“We know that some people’s vehicles must have also been damaged, that is also going to be taken into consideration in dealing with the situation.” Sylva also spoke on the approval granted to his ministry by the council by saying that it approved the contract for the closure of the 17-storey Local Content Building project in Yenagoa at the cost of N1.817 billion.

He explained: “You will recall that in 2020, Mr. President already commissioned thatproject. Thereweresome ancillary works that had to be done to connect some of the buildings and that was now presented to council for the sum of N1.817 billion and this now closes out this contract and we have told the contractor this is the full and final payment for everything. “So, this is the end of this project and we have completely delivered this to Nigerians.” In his presentation, Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, said FEC approved a contract for the replacement of Aviation Operations (AvO) at the cost of N12, 097,215,800.09.

Read Previous

IMF to CBN: Phase out excessive intervention activities

Read Next

Soludo’s inauguration to last 20 minutes with 50 invitees

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *