The Parliamentary Oversight Committee on Trade and Industry on Tuesday inspected the Aminata and Sons, Conex Energy, Eco Energy and the National Petroleum (NP) Terminals in Freetown.
The Chairperson for the committee, Honourable Veronica Kadie Sesay, said their visit at terminals was one of their key oversight priorities assigned to them by the House Of Parliament in order to ensure that Oil Marketers Companies (OMCs) were ideally adhering to the importation, distribution, transportation and retailing of petroleum products accordingly with fair and competitive business atmosphere among OMCs.
Honourable Veronica Kadie Sesay told managements of OMCs that Parliament was one of the highest decisions making bodies in the country that checkmates the excesses and examine the successes of various investments in the country, noting that Oversight’s assignment was not about witch-hunting or whatever, but that it was there to help streamline some of the strategic objectives of OMCs and to ensure that they were operating within the scope and context of what average Sierra Leoneans expect them to deliver .
“As Honourable Members of the Oversight Committee on Trade and Industry, we are here to inspect the exceptional jobs and the expansion of additional storage facilities built by various OMCs and make formal reports to parliament with recommendations and action points. On behalf of the committee, I am kindly appealing to OMCs to maintain mutual and collaborative business synergies that will help improve the Downstream Petroleum Sector by ensuring it becomes very viable and compelling and try as much as possible to put an end to an artificial scarcity in the country and OMCs should continue providing quality services delivery in the country”, Hon. Veronica noted.
The Chief Executive Officer of Aminata and Sons, one of the newest OMCs in the industry and a conglomerate from Monrovia, Mohamed Turay, applauded the committee for their maiden engagement at their Cline Town Terminal.
On behalf of his company, he expressed his heartfelt gratitude and appreciation to concerned authorities within the Downstream Sector for their commitment to Amimata and Sons since the construction of their facilities and to the arrival of their first AGO’s vessel in Freetown.
CEO Turay assured the Oversight Committee on Trade and Industry of their fullest supports to Sierra Leoneans in boosting the fuel industry that would be comparable to the other industries in the Sub-Region.
Highlighting the success story of National Petroleum (NP) in Sierra Leone, CEO Saidu Mansaray explained some of their major achievements in the industry over the years and some of the digital transformations and innovations that NP had planned to undertake in the shortest possible time .
Chief Executive Officer of NP said as the largest OMC in the country, they were poised to break barriers in the sector and to ensure that the consistent hoarding and fuel scarcity became things of the past, adding that his leadership compounded with what his predecessor exceptionally did, would always continue to maintain the deliverable status quo NP was being known for in the last decades.
He, however, told the visiting team that some of the challenges NP was facing in the industry was the area of forex, the poor road network, and the establishment of makeshift houses closer to the terminal.
He appealed to the committee to kindly look into their concerns and channel it with the appropriate authorities in parliament.