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 government agencies to appear before it over unresolved audit queries.
The directive was issued on Monday after officials of the invited agencies failed to honour the committee’s invitations and did not provide any formal explanation for their absence.
Chairman of the committee, Senator Ibrahim Dankwambo, said the invitations formed part of the committee’s constitutional oversight responsibilities and efforts to clear pending audit matters.
According to him, the committee had planned the meeting to reduce its workload and strengthen legislative oversight of public institutions.
“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.
The committee expressed concern over the agencies’ failure to appear, describing the development as unacceptable.
Committee member, Senator Babangida Hussaini, said the agencies’ absence amounted to disrespect for the National Assembly and undermined the legislature’s oversight functions.
“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,” Hussaini said.
“This committee needs to take drastic action. The Senate is being taken for granted and that must stop forthwith.”
Also speaking, Senator Patrick Ndubueze urged the committee to impose sanctions on the defaulting agencies, arguing that they had failed to justify their absence despite receiving official invitations.
“The proper consequences should be laid down and carried out. They don’t deserve a second chance,” Ndubueze said.
“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.”
Following deliberations, the committee resolved to issue a final 72-hour ultimatum to the affected agencies, directing them to appear before it on August 6 to respond to the outstanding audit queries.
The lawmakers warned that failure to comply with the directive could result in further legislative action in line with the Senate’s oversight powers.
The committee did not immediately specify the nature of the audit queries to be addressed but stressed that all invited agencies were expected to cooperate fully with the investigation and account for issues raised in the audit reports.