The House of Representatives said it may be forced to issue a Bench Warrant on the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources and the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, over “unlawful dismissal and disengagement of one Nwachukwu Loretta and four other officers without fair hearing”.
The House said the dismissal violated section 36 of the 1999 constitution as amended and as such cannot stand.
The Uzoma Nkem-Abonta-led House Committee on Public Petitions also recommended that the Ministry of Petroleum Resources direct the PPPRA to immediately reinstate the dis-engaged officers and pay all outstanding entitlements accruing from the date of their termination of services till date.
The five dismissed officers, including Nwachukwu Loretta Chinwe, Nkechi Obiefuna-Ewoh, Pauline Peter Omali, Oyekanmi Isaac Ayodele and Blessing Osagie, had approached the House with a petition through their legal representative, Okolocha, Ufua & Co, on September 29, 2015, and prayed it to intervene to reverse their disengagement, which they said was done without due process, Vanguard reports.
The committee, in its report, signed by the chairman, Uzoma Nkem Abonta, PDP, Ukwa East/West Fed Constituency, Abia State, said: “The petitioners in their complaints expressed shock at their disengagement, having been in the services of the agency, following their employment at various times between 2004 and 2006, when they performed their duties satisfactorily, thereby meriting confirmation and gaining commendation and promotions for jobs well done.”
“Surprisingly, that sometime in 2014, their appointments were respectively purported to be terminated in a most capricious manner, via a letter, dated December 30, 2014, captioned ‘Letter of Disengagement from the Service of The Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency’.
“That by dint of hard work and diligence, they were at various times promoted, and variously, expressly commended for satisfactory services, and in some cases, sponsored for further training abroad, or appointed to special positions meant for the most competent and dedicated staff.
“That throughout their service, they were not found wanting in the performance of their duties, whether on moral, physical or intellectual grounds.”
However, in its submission before the committee, the PPPRA via a letter with reference number: A.3/8/916/C.363/Vol.I/59, dated April 12, 2016, and addressed to the Clerk of the National Assembly, told the committee that it was constrained to reinstate the petitioners due to the gravity of their offences.
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