The Senate Committee on Public Accounts has issued a 72-hour ultimatum to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and other agencies to appear before it over their failure to honour invitations to respond to audit queries.
The directive was issued during the committee’s meeting on Monday after officials of the invited agencies failed to appear and provided no formal explanation for their absence.
Chairman of the committee, Senator Ibrahim Dankwambo, said the invitations formed part of the committee’s oversight responsibilities and efforts to streamline its workload.
“We wanted to reduce the volume of work to enhance our oversight. The letters and invitations were issued, but our guests have not arrived,” he said.
Expressing dissatisfaction over the agencies’ absence, committee member Senator Babangida Hussaini described the action as disrespectful to the National Assembly.
“The committee has powers, and it is most disrespectful to the National Assembly for any agency to fail to appear to respond to audit queries. This committee needs to take drastic action. The Senate is being taken for granted, and that must stop forthwith,” he said.
Also speaking, Senator Patrick Ndubueze called for sanctions against the defaulting agencies, arguing that they should not be given another opportunity after failing to honour the invitations without offering any explanation.
“The proper consequences should be laid down and carried out. They don’t deserve a second chance. If they can’t attend to this important arm of government after invitations were sent and no explanations were given, they don’t deserve another chance,” he stated.
Following deliberations, the committee gave the affected agencies a final 72-hour ultimatum to appear before it on August 6, warning that failure to comply could result in further legislative action.
