Hon Esosa Iyawe, member representing Oredo Federal Constituency, has raised a serious health and environmental concerns on the floor of the green chamber.
Iyawe, who is one of the youngest and most active members of the house, raised the motion of “Urgent need to address the outrage resulting from unguarded comments by the Chief Executive of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Authority”, in which he addressed the economic sabotage by Faruk Ahmed, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Authority (NMDPRA), over what he described as his “unguarded comment” regarding Dangote refinery.
The NMDPRA CEO publicly claimed that the diesel produced by the Dangote refinery is inferior to the ones imported into the country, and that their fuel had a large content of Sulphur, which he put at between 650 to 1,200ppm ppm.
The comment was met with a huge national uproar, with Aliko Dangote, Chairman of Dangote Group, suggesting a test of petroleum products at his $20billion refinery located in Lagos, and those imported into the country by those licensed by the NMDPRA boss.
Iyawe said on the floor of the hallowed chamber, that Sulphur dioxide has dire environmental and health consequences, as it can damage the human respiratory system, compromise lung function and even cause cancer.
The lawmaker stressed that members of the house who supervised the test process discovered that the sulphur emission to the environment in the fuel imported by NMDPRA-licensed contractors constitutes serious environmental danger and health implications for Nigerians, as well as the well-being of vehicles which uses Premium Motor Spirit (PMS).
“Further aware that in their defence, Dangote called for a test of their products, which was supervised by Members of the House of Representatives, wherein it was revealed that Dangote’s diesel had a Sulphur content of 87.6 ppm (parts per million), whereas the other two samples diesel imported showed Sulphur levels exceeding 1800 ppm and 2000 ppm respectively, thus disproving the allegations made by the NMDPRA boss,” Esosa Iyawe said while moving the motion for the suspension of the NMDPRA CEO..
“Concerned that allegations have been made that the NMDPRA was giving licences to some traders who regularly import high-Sulphur content diesel into Nigeria, and the use of such products poses grave health risks and huge financial losses for Nigerians.
“Also concerned that the unguarded statements by the Chief Executive of the NMDPRA, which has since been disproved, sparked an outrage from Nigerians who tagged his undermining of local refineries and insistence on the continued importation of fuel an act of economic sabotage, as the imported products have been shown to contain high levels of dangerous compounds.
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“Worried that the careless statement by the Chief Executive of the NMDPRA without conducting any prior investigation is not only unprofessional, but also unpatriotic especially in the face of the recent calls for protest against the Federal Government.”
Esosa Iyawe added: “Mr Speaker, the house notes that the high sulphur content causes damages to engines and contributes to air pollution. Mr Speaker, the house resolves to call on the Federal Government to suspend the Chief Executive of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Authority (NMDPRA) pending conclusive investigations into the allegations against the Authority.”
Subsequently, the House of Representatives adopted the motion, urging President Bola Tinubu to suspend Ahmed.