- The Senate gave NNPCL, CBN and other agencies 72 hours to answer audit queries
- Lawmakers condemned the agencies for ignoring official invitations
- The committee warned that further legislative action could follow non-compliance
The Senate Committee on Public Accounts has given 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 several other government agencies 72 hours to appear before it over unresolved audit queries.
Eko Hot Blog gathered that the committee issued the ultimatum on Monday after representatives of the invited agencies failed to attend its meeting and did not provide any official reason for their absence.
Chairman of the committee, Senator Ibrahim Dankwambo, said the invitations formed part of the committee’s constitutional oversight duties and were intended to speed up the review of outstanding audit issues.
According to him, the committee had expected the agencies to honour the invitations in order to reduce its backlog of work and improve accountability.
“We wanted to reduce the volume of work to enhance our oversight. The letters and invitations were issued, but our guests have not arrived,” Dankwambo said.
Committee members expressed dissatisfaction over the agencies’ failure to appear, describing the action as a disregard for the authority of the National Assembly.
Senator Babangida Hussaini said the committee had the constitutional power to compel compliance and warned that continued disregard for its invitations undermined legislative oversight.
“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. The Senate is being taken for granted, and that must stop immediately,” he said.
Also speaking, Senator Patrick Ndubueze called for strict sanctions against the affected agencies, arguing that their failure to honour the invitations without any explanation was unacceptable.
He maintained that the agencies should face the consequences of their actions rather than be granted repeated opportunities to appear before the committee.
After deliberations, the committee agreed to issue a final 72-hour deadline, directing the agencies to appear before it on August 6 to address the pending audit queries.
The lawmakers warned that failure to comply with the directive could result in further legislative measures.
