‎The Nigerian Senate has set up an Ad-hoc Committee to carry out a holistic investigation into the planned concession of the Port Harcourt refinery to AGIP and OANDO by the Ministry of Petroleum Resources.

This followed a motion moved by Senator Sabo Mohammed representing Jigawa South, who expressed sadness over the deal during plenary on Tuesday.

Equally, the Senate tasked the Committee to determine how and why such a deal was sealed and the criteria used to select AGIP/ENI and OANDO, to maintain and operate the Port Harcourt Refinery, and at what cost and timeframe.

Senator Sabo in the motion raised concerns that the planned concession without recourse to due process is illegal and a clear attempt at ridiculing Nigerians as well as creating a big hole in the anti corruption crusade of the current administration.

He informed the Senate that the Minister of State for Petroleum had earlier stated that the agreement was part of a broader Federal Government plans to increase capacity for local consumption of petroleum product with the aim of ending fuel importation in Nigeria by 2019.

Dino Melaye, a lawmaker representing Kogi west at the Senate while contributing to the motion, lamented that Nigeria is about to witness another fraudulent sale of its asset to government cronies, reminiscent of the sales of power sector to GENCOS and DISCOS

The Senate said its major grouse is that it is not yet clear if the arrangement is a concession agreement or an agreement to build a new refinery, warning that all processes and transactions should be halted until the Committee tasked with the investigation concludes its work and reports back to the Senate‎.

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