The Senate has expressed concerns over the lack of transparency in the implementation of President Bola Tinubu administration’s N500 billion Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) project.
The upper legislative chamber alleged that members of the Presidential Gas Initiative Steering Committee had “refused” to answer questions before the National Assembly on the N500 billion gas intervention fund of the federal government.
The chairman, Senate committee on gas, Jarigbe Agom, noted that the activities of the committee are “shrouded in secrecy” with “no transparency in their activities”.
He stated that both the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and the National Assembly are not aware of their activities on the usage of the funds released so far for the implementation of the project.
“There is no transparency in their bidding, as public procurement procedures are not followed in awarding contracts,” Agom said during plenary on Wednesday.
“The contracts are awarded to cronies and friends without quality control,” he added.
The senator further stressed that several summons by the National Assembly to the steering committee to appear before it to account for the N500 billion palliative fund have been shunned.
He called on President Tinubu to provide a budget to the National Assembly for proper scrutiny and implementation of the gas revolution policy of the federal government
Senator Agom lamented that a budget for capital expenditure for Ministry of Petroleum Resources was “grossly inadequate” to meet the policy direction of the government for transition from fossil fuels to use for compressed natural gas to ameliorate the suffering of Nigerians occasioned by the removal of subsidy.
