It Is Illegal To Refine Crude Oil Produced Locally Abroad

crude

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara says it is illegal for the crude oil produced on the shores of Nigeria to be refined outside the country.

According to him, that singular act by the previous administration could make the country a laughing stock in the comity of nations.

“I don’t know if there is any country that produces the kind of oil that is produced in Nigeria that refines outside its products own shores. For me, it is kind of illegal. This is most inexcusable because we have turned this nation into a laughing stock,” he said while addressing the National Executives of Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), led by its President, Chinedu Okoronkwo.

“Why is it that we can’t refine this oil here? Why is it that in an oil producing country our brothers and sisters have to queue for nine hours to buy a product that should just be there? This is something that I believe that with your expertise you need to leverage on.”

Reacting to the removal of subsidy on fuel, Dogara said: “As a legislator, I can tell you there is something about subsidy removal that we are not looking at.

“There is a Price Control Act; if you look at the PCA, section 4 talks about regulating or controlling the prices of products that are listed in the first schedule of that act.

“One of the products listed in the first schedule is petroleum products, so by law in this country, we must control the price of petroleum products.

“But the law as passed by parliament gives a window and prescribing, vesting the responsibility of adding up items on the schedule of the giving items to the price regulating board and I am not sure we have that board in place,” Dogara said.

 

 

1 COMMENT

  1. Well he worries about Nigeria being the laughing stock of the world but I’m personally laughing at that headline. He said, “For me, it is kind of illegal.” It sounds more like a point of pride than an actual statement on the legality of refining our oil overseas.

    For once, I feel for the politician when he says he was misquoted.