The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited has been asked to suspend the companies involved in the importation of methanol-blended petrol.

The call was made to the NNPC by the House of Representatives during its plenary on Thursday, February 10, The Cable reports.

Moreover, the lower legislative chamber urged the agency to forward the names of the firms to its committee for investigation.

The investigation, according to The Nation, is to ascertain the quality of petroleum products imported meets international standard.

This resolution came after the adoption of a motion of urgent public importance sponsored by Honourable Mohammed Monguno.

Recall that Mele Kyari, the group managing director of the NNPC had disclosed how adulterated petrol was brought into the country.

During a briefing in Abuja on Wednesday, February 9, Kyari noted that the low-quality product was imported into Nigeria from Antwerp, Belgium, through some local distributors

He disclosed that the NNPC received a report back in January from its quality inspector of the presence of “emulsion particles” in petrol cargoes shipped to Nigeria from Belgium. The NNPC boss pointed out that at the point of arrival in the country, quality inspectors failed to discover that the petrol contains a high volume of Methanol. However, Kyari explained that:

The usual quality inspection protocol employed in both the load port in Belgium and our discharge ports in Nigeria do not include the test for percent methanol content and therefore the additive was not detected by our quality inspectors.”

He listed the distributing companies as MRS, Emadeb/Hyde/AY Maikifi/Brittania-U Consortium, Oando, and Duke Oil. Kyari pointed out that while the NNPC has ordered the quarantine of volumes of the product yet to be distributed, the listed defaulters have been put on notice for proper actions.

His words:

“In order to prevent the distribution of the petrol, we have ordered the quarantine of all un-evacuated volumes and the holding back of all the affected products in transit (both truck & marine).”