The Senate Committee on Local Content yesterday threatened to sanction the Group General Manager of National Petroleum Investment and Management Service (NAPIMS), Roland Ewubare, if he shuns an invitation to appear before it in the next 24 hours.
The Chairman of the committee, Sen. Solomon Adeola made this known in Abuja through a statement by his Media Adviser, Kayode Odunaro.
Ewubare was expected to appear before the committee to explain the huge variations associated with the $16 billion Egina Deep Sea Oil Project.
Adeola decried that it was becoming a tradition in the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and its subsidiaries to treat National Assembly invitations with levity.
He said the committee would no longer tolerate such, adding that “henceforth we will not deal with ‘lieutenants’ of these agencies without their heads or cogent reasons in advance.
“NAPIMS has sent three General Managers as representatives to the committee after it received an invitation three weeks ago for appearance of the Group General Manager.
“He was invited to throw light on submissions made by Total Exploration and Production Nigeria Ltd handling the Egina project but we have not seen him since the invitation was sent three weeks ago,” he said.
The Vice Chairman of the Committee, Sen. Godswill Akpabio according to the statement, expressed displeasure over the inability of the GMD to appear before the committee.
He said it was important for him to appear and answer questions on issues relating to how Nigerians were being shortchanged by foreign companies and their local collaborators.
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