Senate gives NNPCL, CBN, NDDC, others 72 hours to answer audit queries

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 several other government agencies to appear before it over their failure to respond to audit queries.

The committee handed down the directive on Monday after officials of the invited agencies failed to honour its summons and offered no formal explanation for their absence.

Chairman of the committee, Senator Ibrahim Dankwambo, described the development as disappointing, saying the invitations were issued as part of the committee’s constitutional oversight responsibilities and efforts to expedite the consideration of outstanding audit issues.

“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 strong displeasure over what they described as the agencies’ disregard for the authority of the National Assembly.

Senator Babangida Hussaini condemned the absence of the invited officials, warning that government agencies must not treat legislative oversight with contempt.

“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.

Echoing the same position, Senator Patrick Ndubueze urged the committee to impose sanctions on the defaulting agencies, arguing that their failure to appear without prior notice or explanation was unacceptable.

“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.

After deliberations, the committee resolved to grant the affected agencies a final 72-hour ultimatum to appear before it on August 6 to answer the audit queries.

The lawmakers warned that failure to comply with the directive could trigger further legislative action in line with the powers of the National Assembly.