An ad hoc committee of the House of Representatives has summoned the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, and the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, to explain the Federal Government’s bid to spend $ 1.8bn on the turnaround maintenance of the country’s four refineries, The Punch reports.

The committee, which is chaired by a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) from Kaduna State, Mr. Garba Datti-Muhammad, has been mandated by the House to investigate why the refineries have failed to work despite gulping huge sums on TAM over the years.

The Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Dr. Maikanti Baru; and the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, are also on the list of stakeholders to appear before it from May 7. The country’s refineries, which are located in Port Harcourt, Kaduna and Warri, have largely been unable to refine crude oil for domestic consumption and possible exportation of finished products.

It will be recalled that a House resolution in November 2017 had directed the NNPC to stop the fresh TAM pending the outcome of the probe. The resolution had noted that the four refineries had already gulped more than $20bn on TAM but without appreciable improvement in performance to justify the expenditure.