Senator Allwell Onyesoh has criticised the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited for repeatedly failing to honour invitations from the Senate Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream), accusing the company of avoiding legislative oversight.
The lawmaker, who represents Rivers East and serves as the committee’s vice chairman, spoke after a committee meeting on Friday where lawmakers are reviewing issues surrounding the NNPC’s 2023 financial records, including its payables and receivables, as well as crude oil theft and proposed petroleum law reforms.
Onyesoh said the oil firm’s continuous absence from committee sessions undermines the National Assembly’s constitutional oversight role. He had earlier walked out of the meeting in protest over the absence of the company’s senior management.
“We are not contractors. We are simply asking questions. Give us facts. Give us records. We want to study them. That is our constitutional responsibility,” he said.
The senator faulted the company’s repeated explanation that its officials were on official trips abroad, arguing that such excuses were no longer convincing.
“They keep writing letters saying they are travelling to Congo, travelling here and there, just to dodge simple things,” he said.
“Was the GCEO appointed to keep travelling or to work? Is Nigeria’s problem outside the country or here in Nigeria? How is it possible that the GCEO, his deputy, directors and the entire management are all travelling at the same time? That is not acceptable.”
He said the company’s refusal to appear before lawmakers creates doubts about its willingness to be transparent and accountable.
“If you are serving the people of Nigeria, first and foremost, you must obey the laws of the land,” the senator said.
“The highest law-making body in the country invites you, and consistently you are too big to appear. Who told you that?”
Onyesoh also dismissed the notion that the NNPC reports only to the presidency, stressing that every public institution established by law is accountable to the National Assembly. He added that he does not believe President Bola Tinubu would support any agency ignoring lawmakers.
“I know Mr. President. That is not the president I know. He will not tell any agency to ignore the national assembly,” he said.
“We all work with Mr. President. Whenever issues arise, he engages the legislature with respect.”
The senator said he would raise the issue with the Senate leadership to reinforce legislative oversight and institutional accountability.
He also decried the lack of development in oil-producing communities despite decades of oil exploration, urging the Petroleum Technology Development Fund to publish details of beneficiaries of its scholarship and capacity-building programmes, especially those from Rivers State and other oil-producing areas.
According to him, the committee’s ongoing review of petroleum laws is intended to improve transparency, strengthen regulation, tackle crude oil theft and support higher crude oil production.
