Reps panel summons NNPCL, oil firms, agencies over environmental degradation

A joint committee of the House of Representatives has summoned the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mr. Mele Kyari, to appear before it on May 8 over an investigation into environmental degradation caused by the activities of oil companies in oil producing communities.

The Chairman of the House Committee on Environment, Pondi Julius Gbabojor, announced the summons yesterday during a hearing on the need to investigate the service and unprecedented environmental damage within the oil producing communities, reports The Nation.

Also to appear before the joint committee are the chief executives of some oil companies and relevant government agencies.

The House committees include those of Environment, Petroleum Resources (Upstream), Petroleum Resources (Downstream), and Climate Change.

Gbabojor said the matter to be addressed is critical, threatening appropriate sanctions, if those invited failed to turn up.

Besides the NNPCL, other oil companies summoned include Chevron Nigeria Limited, Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited, Total Energies, Oando Oil Limited, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited, Seplat Energy, among others.