The House of Repre
sentatives may be forced to issue a Bench Warrant on the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources and the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) over what it called “unlawful dismissal and or disengagement of one Nwachukwu Loretta and four other officers without fair hearing, saying that the decision violates section 36 of the 1999 Constitution as amended and as such cannot stand.
The Rep Uzoma Nkem-Abonta-led House Committee on Public Petitions also recommend that the Ministry of Petroleum Resources direct the PPPRA to immediately re-instate the disengaged officers, and pay all outstanding entitlements accruing from the date of their termination of services till date.
The five dismissed officers include: Nwachukwu Loretta Chinwe, Nkechi Obiefuna-Ewoh, Pauline Peter Omali, Oyekanmi Isaac Ayodele and Blessing Osagie had approached the House with a petition through their legal representative, Okolocha, Ufua & Co, September 29, 2015, wherein they prayed the House to intervene with a view to reversing their disengagement which they said was done without due process.
The committee, in its report signed by the Chairman, Rep Uzoma Nkem Abonta (PDP, Ukwa East/West Fed Constituency, Abia), said that “the petitioners in their complaints, had expressed shock at their disengagement having been in the services of the agency following their employment at various times between 2004 and 2006, during which time they had performed their duties satisfactorily thereby meriting confirmation and gaining commendation and promotions for jobs well done.
“Surprisingly, sometime in 2014, their appointments were respectively purported to have been terminated in a most capricious manner via a letter dated December 30, 2014, captioned ‘Letter of Disengagement from the Service of The Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency’.
“That by dint of hard work and diligence, they were at various times promoted, and variously expressly commended for satisfactory services, and in some cases sponsored for further training abroad, or appointed to special positions meant for the most competent and dedicated staff, that throughout their service, they were not found wanting in the performance of their duties whether on moral, physical or intellectual grounds”, the petition read.
However, in its submission before the committee, the PPPRA via a letter with reference number: A.3/8/916/C.363/Vol.I/59, dated 12th April, 2016, and addressed to the Clerk of the National Assembly, told the committee that it was constrained to reinstate the petitioners due to the gravity of their offences.
It said: “I wish to refer to your letter No.: NASS/CAN/105/Vol.21/163 dated 10th March, 2016, on the above subject, and to most respectfully state that the agency is constrained to reinstate Nwachukwu Loretta Chinwe and four other disengaged staff as they were found culpable of falsification of age, among others, in contravention of the Public Service Rule (PSR) Article 030402(a) for which they were liable for dismissal under Article 030401 of the PSR.
“I will also like to state that the agency was magnanimous to have commuted their dismissal to disengagement to enable them enjoy full benefits”, the PPPRA said in its reply.