Senator Ita Enang has said President Bola Tinubu’s directive to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited to sell crude oil to Dangote Refinery in naira is in compliance with the law.

Mr Enang, a former senator and lawyer, stated this in an interview on the NTA on Tuesday.

The federal government on Monday ordered NNPCL to sell crude oil to Dangote Refinery and other local refineries in naira.

The ex-lawmaker commended Mr Tinubu on the step he took, describing it as “the beginning of the solutions to the problems of the country.”

He said: “The implication of this directive from the Federal Executive Council and the President is to comply with the laws of Nigeria. The law of Nigeria under the Central Bank Act says the currency of Nigeria shall be the Nigerian Naira. So, if you are selling any commodity in Nigeria, you must sell it in naira.”

The legal practitioner said the question of petroleum and its products was no longer a matter of economy alone but a question of national security.

He said, “It is not a question of how much Nigeria will earn but a question of national security. It is the survival of Nigeria. The Dangote Refinery is not an economic asset of Nigeria; it is not an economic asset of Dangote. It is a national security asset. It is as good and as important as the key to our national security. So we should allow the directive by Mr President and the FEC to sail through and make sure that this is not sabotaged.’’

According to him, it is good that the President has given a fast directive that the crude oil must be sold to Dangote Refinery and to other refineries because, in the past, the NNPCL had been very interested in selling crude oil to countries abroad.

He said: “That is why they were not interested in getting any of the refineries working. They get so much money and are doing what they called turnaround maintenance that has not worked. So, the decision by the President is good; it’s the best, because we were shocked that there is a man, a living being in this country, who can say that the (Dangote) refinery will not have crude oil because they have to sell crude oil and import refined petroleum products.”

Mr Enang, who was one-time Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), urged Mr Tinubu to probe allegations of corruption in the NNPCL operations.

He urged the President to get an emergency team to reform the organisation.

“I want to say with respect that, Mr President, this is just the beginning of your actions. I have asked on public forums and even on this channel that Nigerians should answer one question: Is it the Central Bank of Nigeria or NNPCL that owns Nigeria, or is it Nigeria that owns NNPCL and CBN?

“Mr President showed courage in dealing with the matter of the CBN. He carried out complete surgery in the case of the Central Bank of Nigeria. And I am sure that Nigerians and the world were shocked at what has come out of it and shocked at how we got to where we are in terms of the value of our currency.

“I want Mr President not to do exactly the same thing only to NNPCL; I want him to do more because the situation is worse in the oil sector and the NNPCL. Mr President should, in addition to this directive, set up a commission of inquiry to find out how we got here; look at the Petroleum Industry Act.

“If we say we should have the Petroleum Industry Act, it will attract more investment, but it has attracted more divestment, which has worsened the oil sector,” he said.

According to him, Mr President should ensure a complete overhaul, surgery and turnaround of the NNPCL.

“They should be made to sit and answer questions to every question that has risen since 1999 about why we have got here and why none of the refineries are working,” he said.

He said the President’s action would positively affect the lives of the common man on the streets as less money would be spent on the petroleum process, which would indirectly crash the prices of the products. In the next five years, the oil sector is going to be interesting with the Tinubu initiative.

“When the Tinubu initiative comes in, all the matters relating to security will be eliminated and the cost of producing crude oil is going to be cheaper. And I want to urge that the government should also give Dangote Refinery some oil blocks so that it can take responsibility for the production, and they should go into the drilling of more oil wells so that we can have more crude oil,” he said.

(NAN)