The House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Resources (Midstream) has vowed to deepen legislative scrutiny of Nigeria’s midstream petroleum sector, promising more aggressive oversight of operators and regulators as it seeks to improve energy security, domestic gas utilisation and accountability across the industry.
The commitment emerged from two legislative retreats held by the committee in Port Harcourt and Lagos recently, where lawmakers reviewed challenges facing the sector and adopted measures aimed at strengthening parliamentary oversight within the ambit of the Petroleum Industry Act.
In a statement made available to PUNCH Online on Monday, the Chairman of the Committee, Odianosen Okojie, said the era of relying solely on reports and presentations was over, insisting that legislators must engage directly with facilities and stakeholders to understand the realities of the industry.
“Recently, we did something that I believe should become standard practice for every legislative committee in Nigeria: we went to see for ourselves.
“We did not wait for briefing notes and ministerial reports. We travelled directly from the airport to Greenville LNG and to Indorama Petrochemicals Ltd, and we saw with our own eyes the scale, the complexity, and the realities of midstream operations in this country,” he said.
