Members of the House of Representatives on Thursday passed a resolution to investigate the source of the adulterated Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), better known as petrol, imported into the country recently.
Members, while debating a motion of urgent public importance on the subject, expressed concern that the development was a failure on the part of regulatory and monitoring agencies.
They called for the immediate suspension of the four firms alleged to have imported the adulterated product, pending the outcome of the investigation.
The motion was moved by the Chief Whip of the House, Rep. Mohammed Tahir Monguno, who urged the legislature to intervene by ensuring that the bad product did not cause further damage and hardship to Nigerians.
Several members contributing to the motion informed the House that many Nigerians had begun to report engine failures in their vehicles such as sudden breakdowns on the roads.
For instance, Rep. Isiaka Ibrahim, said besides the vehicular breakdowns, a worse scenario could have been if the bad fuel was aviation fuel.
“Mr Speaker, that will be quite frightening and the outcome is better imagined.
“That while an aeroplane is flying, the engines suddenly stop working because of bad aviation fuel.
“That could have been worse”, he stated.
Rep. Tajudeen Yusuf, echoing Ibrahim’s fears, said the importation of bad fuel was another symptom of the sickness plaguing the entire system.
He expressed surprise about how the adulterated petrol escaped the scrutiny of the layers of regulatory bodies both at the port of entry and onshore.
“I feel saddened that the layers of laboratory inspection failed until the bad fuel got into vehicles in the country.
“This is the unfortunate situation in our country; everyone thinks of their pockets first and looks the other way”, he added.
On his part, Rep. Abdulganiyu Johnson suggested a review of the policy on the ease of doing business in Nigeria.
The lawmaker observed that the policy was affecting the economy negatively in some way because relevant regulatory agencies were no longer doing their jobs thoroughly.
The House, in passing the motion, also directed the Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream), to ensure their investigation covers all other petroleum products imported into the country lately, to ascertain their conformity to standard and safety for use.
