The Senate has deferred its investigation into alleged sabotage in the petroleum industry, citing the need for wider consultations with stakeholders, whose input and participation will add value to the conclusion of the investigative hearing.

Leader of the Senate and Chairman, Senate ad hoc Committee to Investigate Alleged Economic Sabotage in the Nigerian Petroleum Industry, Opeyemi Bamidele, gave the reasons in a statement, yesterday.

The senate had set up the committee to investigate billions spent on maintaining the nation’s refineries; beam searchlight on the regulatory agencies over payment to transporters and unravel alleged importation of hazardous petroleum products and dumping of substandard diesel into the country.

In a statement, yesterday, Bamidele explained the decision of the committee to postpone the investigative hearing after due consultation with all its members and key actors in the petroleum industry, saying the decision for the postponement was taken in the best interest of the federation and its population.

The postponement, according to him, becomes imperative considering the compelling need “to consult more widely with expanded stakeholders within and without the petroleum industry and legislative exigencies to further deepen due diligence in the conduct of the investigative hearing.”

He added that the prevailing realities in the country that demanded urgent interventions of nearly all the stakeholders in the public and private sectors across the 36 states of the Federation and Federal Capital Territory informed the resolve for the postponement.