Femi Gbajabiamila, speaker of the House of Representatives, has blamed some individuals he described as “bad actors” for the challenges currently facing the oil and gas industry in Nigeria.
According to him, any action aimed at sabotaging the country’s effort in the oil and gas industry amounts to treason and individuals caught must be held accountable.
Gbajabiamila stated this in Abuja on Wednesday at the Legislative Transparency and Accountability summit organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Anti-Corruption.
“Amid this evolving paradigm, the oil and gas industry still face unique challenges here at home. Due to theft and various acts of economic sabotage, we are experiencing a massive decline in crude oil production and export volume,” Gbajabiamila said.
“Our country is the victim of bad actors determined to achieve great personal wealth at our collective expense. At a time of severe financial constraints, the perpetrators of this brazen heist threaten our ability to meet the demands of governance and nation-building. Their actions effectively amount to treason against our country, for which they must be held accountable,” he added.
In his remarks, Mele Kyari, group managing director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, said he has been receiving death threats due to some reforms introduced int the NNPC.
“Without mincing words, I want to say that this industry is on a threshold of change, there is massive change going on and it is very expensive and of a personal cost to many people including myself,” Kyari said.
“There is a threat to life, I can say this, I have several death threats but we are not bothered about this, we believe that no one dies unless it is his time,” he added.
