Thus, the Senate’s downstream petroleum committee has put seven nominees for top regulatory posts on notice: the job comes with an obligation to deliver the president’s agenda, not stall it.
This was revealed during the screening and confirmation by the Senate committee on Petroleum Downstream Chaired by Senator Sumaila Kawu, with a blunt assessment of the sector. Bureaucratic delays, inefficiency and deliberate non-compliance in some government agencies, he said, were working against official policy and eroding public trust.
Senator Kawu said some agencies are simply not helping Mr President in the actualisation of his vision for the petroleum sector this must stop he named no agencies and cited no specific cases. He told the nominees they would be expected to obey the law, act with integrity and accountability, and carry out government policy within their mandates.
However, the seven nominees are up for executive director roles in the midstream and downstream sector, spanning finance and accounts, distribution and infrastructure, health and safety, hydrocarbon processing, economic regulation, corporate services, and legal affairs. They are Abiodun A. Adeiji, Ogbugo Kalu Ukoha, Mustapha Lamorde, Mobolaji Tajudeen Musa, Ogechukwu Olufunmilayo Modie, Said Abutalib and Jumoke Gafar.
Moreso, the chairman also pressed the nominees on the human cost of reform. Higher fuel prices, he noted, have pushed up what households and businesses pay for transport, food and other basic goods and regulation must not be punitive; rather, it must be progressive, transparent, responsive and people-centred,” he said, calling for practical, sustainable steps to ease the pressure on Nigerians.
Therefore, Senator Kawu said the sector needs stronger energy security, fewer inefficiencies, healthy competition and sustainable investment. He added that regulators must stay independent in performing their statutory duties while remaining answerable to the public
Senate screen presidential nominees, task them to deliver President Bola Ahmed Tinubu agender on petroleum sector
