In a turn of events in popularizing the National Petroleum Regulatory Authority’s New Act in the provinces, the Parliamentary Oversight Committee on Trade & Industry has concluded successful regional discussions on the new Act with Petroleum Operators, Standard Bureau, Media Practitioners, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs)Sierra Leone Police (SLP) and the Office of National Security (ONS) at the Bombali District Council in Makeni.
The popularization aims to educate the general public especially those within the Value Chain Supply about the Authority’s new mandates couples with enormous powers enshrined in the new Act when executing its statutory functions without fear and hesitant.
The Chairperson for the Parliamentary Oversight on Trade and Industry Committee , Honourable Veronica Kadie Sesay noted that for her committee, they have had a consensus to popularize whatever bill that passes through their committee, and it must be given adequate public education to its targeted audience on the basis that they are representing every Sierra Leonean and as such they are obliged to take parliament to the doorsteps of their constituents.
“ Our primary objective in parliament is to make reasonable laws on behalf of our constituents, PRA then had achieved a lot in terms of reforms, revenue growth and stability within the industry for years and the current leadership and management have made significant improvements which continue to position the Oil Industry as one of the most delivered sectors in the country, these and other compelling factors urged the current leadership and his team to transition from Agency to Authority which would give them full Authority in overseeing the Downstream Industry in a very transparent and effective manner” Hon. Veronica Sesay averred .
On his part, Honourable Daniel Koroma lauded the astute leadership at NPRA, noting it was a very daunting task for the current DG and his team for ensuring they’d attained an unprecedented limelight from Agency to Authority. Hon. Koroma challenged NPRA to continue their exceptional service delivery to Sierra Leoneans while he also cautioned dealers and other stakeholders to kindly adhere to the new Act which will be a win-win situation to the regulators and the dealers.
Hon. Koroma said, they realized over the years that NPRA needs absolute autonomy which would aid them to extend their footprints in hard go terrain and to also ensure complete sanity within the industry , and this warranted the Legislative Committee and Trade Committee to help them actualize the dreams of the current leadership at NPRA noting that their most anticipated dream came through parliament successfully and we would continue to provide the requisite supports that would graciously help the amazing team at NPRA to thrive on smoothly.
Speaking on behalf of the management of NPRA, the Director of Licensing and Inspection, Jayah K Muana highlighted few essential provisions in the new Act and gave a succinct overview of red flags for dealers to keenly heed to.
Director Muana emphasized on the need for petroleum dealers in the south and northern part of the country to always ensure that all precautionary measures are being put in place at every station, adding that, petroleum product is toxic and it’s a political commodity that has the tendency to create instability in the country if the sector is not well regulated.
NPRA* Media & PR Department
British Council Building
Tower Hill
Website :www.pra.gov.sl.