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The Senate Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has given four oil companies 48 hours to appear before it and respond to queries contained in the 2021, 2022 and 2023 audit reports of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI).
The companies are Seplat Energy, Network E&P Nigeria Limited, All Grace Energy Limited and Aradel Energy Limited.
They were directed to appear before the committee on Thursday or face the full weight of the National Assembly’s constitutional powers.
The decision of the committee, led by Ibrahim Dankwambo, to issue the ultimatum on Tuesday followed a motion by Abdul Ningi, who faulted Network E&P for writing to the committee that it was accountable to the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), rather than responding to the Senate’s invitation.
Ningi described the company’s position as disturbing, insisting that the National Assembly had the constitutional authority to summon individuals, companies and government agencies to explain issues arising from its investigations.
“The Senate and, by extension, the National Assembly, is the custodian of Nigeria’s laws and has the power to invite anybody or agency for explanations on issues raised against them,” he said.
Supporting the call for sanctions, Shehu Lawan urged the committee to invoke its constitutional powers against companies that had repeatedly ignored its invitations.
The chairman subsequently directed the Managing Director of Network E&P Nigeria Limited to appear before the committee without fail on Thursday.
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“Having failed to honour the invitation of this committee two consecutive times, the Managing Director of Network E&P Nigeria Limited should appear before us unfailingly on Thursday this week or risk full invocation of legislative powers against him,” Dankwambo said.
The committee extended the same 48-hour ultimatum to the management of Seplat Energy, All Grace Energy and Aradel Energy after their representatives were not present at the hearing.
Meanwhile, Dubri Oil Company Limited, which appeared before the committee, disputed a $3.025 million royalty and gas flare liability attributed to it in the NEITI audit report.
According to NEITI, the debt figure was based on information supplied by the NUPRC in 2025 and comprised $2.378 million in gas flare liabilities and $646,605.55 relating to oil production.
However, a representative of Dubri Oil, Soyode Olusoji Clement, told the committee that the liability arose from a reconciliation dispute between the company and the NUPRC.
He said the reconciliation had since been concluded and that Dubri Oil no longer had any outstanding debt with the upstream regulator.
Clement also submitted documents to support the company’s position.
The committee said it would scrutinise the documents before determining whether the company should be cleared of the liability contained in the NEITI report.
