Senate to Summon NNPC over sale of Oil blocs as protests rock National Assembly



The Senate Committee Chairman on Petroleum, Senator Emmanuel Paulker, tHURSday said the upper chamber would summon the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to appear before it next week to defend an alleged sale of four oil mining leases (OMLs) in the Niger Delta without conducting a bid process.  Paulker’s disclosure of the decision to summon the NNPC was the fallout of a protest by five ethnic groups in Delta State which shut out members and staff of the National Assembly for three hours as the protesters stopped human and vehicular entry into the institution in the early hours of the day.The protesters which came under the aegis of Delta State Oil Producing Communities, alleged that the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke, connived with Shell to re-allocate the oil blocs said to be worth N58.9 trillion as they accused the minister and Shell of truncating the bidding process for the oil mining leases (OMLs) with alleged disregard to “the doctrine of rights of pre-emption.”The protest led by Chief Ayiri Amami of Itsekiri group, handed down a 14-day ultimatum to the National Assembly to compel Shell to the trend or witness monumental protest. The ethnic groups are: Itsekiri, Urhobo, Ijaw, Isoko and Ndokwa.


Culled From Thisdayonline

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