The Parliamentary Oversight Committee on Trade and Industry on 18th June, 2024 inspected the Aminata and Sons, Conex, Eco Energy, and the National Petroleum (NP) petroleum terminals in Freetown.

The Chairperson for the committee, Honourable Veronica Kadie Sesay said their visit to terminals of their key overnight priorities assigned to them by the House of Parliament in order to ensure that Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) are 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 is one of the highest decision-making bodies in the country that checkmates the excesses and examines the successes of various, investments in the country, noting that the Oversight’s assignment is not about witch-hunting, but to help streamline some of the strategy objectives of OMCs and to ensure they are operating within the scope and contest 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 artificial scarcity in the country and OMCs should continue providing quality service delivery in the country,” Honourable Country Veronica noted.

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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 Aminata and Sons since the construction of their facilities and for the arrival of first AGO’s vessel in Freetown.

CEO Turay assured the Oversight Committee on Trade and Industry of their fullest support to Sierra Leoneans in boosting the fuel industry that will 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 has planned to undertake in the shortest possible time.

Chief Executive Officer of NP said as the largest OMC in the country, they are poised to break barriers in the sector and to ensure that the consistent hoarding and fuel scarcity become things of the past, adding that his leadership compounded with what his predecessor exceptionally did, will always continue to maintain the deliverable status quo NP has been known for in the last decades.

He however told the visiting team that some of the challenges NP faces in the industry are in the areas of FOREX, the poor road network and the establishment of makeshift parallel fuel depots close to the terminal. He appealed to the Committee to look into their concerns and channel it with the appropriate authorities in Parliament.