The Senate Committee on Public Accounts has ordered the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Bayo Ojulari, to appear before it on July 10.
The committee warned that it might be compelled to issue an arrest warrant if Ojulari fails to appear on the specified date.
The directive was issued by the committee, chaired by Sen. Ahmed Wadada, during a brief session in Abuja after NNPCL officials failed to appear as expected. Their presence was required to address queries raised last week concerning an alleged N210 trillion unaccounted for by the company between 2017 and 2023, as detailed in an audit report.
Instead of attending, the NNPCL sent a letter signed by Adedapo Segun on behalf of the GCEO, requesting an additional two months to prepare a detailed response. The letter was read by the committee clerk, Sani Abdullahi. Wadada strongly rejected the request and criticized the absence of NNPCL officials, stating that it showed disrespect for the committee’s summons.
“We expected representatives from the NNPCL to be before us today to answer questions thrown at them last week on issues or queries raised in the audit reports before us. Their absence is unacceptable, and as a result, this committee is giving the relevant officials from NNPCL ten working days from today, which ends on July 10. This committee was not expecting any documents from NNPCL today but answers to the eleven questions thrown at its representatives last week. Therefore, the GCEO of NNPCL must appear before us on July 10 for the expected answers,” Wadada said.
He further stated that failure to appear on the scheduled date would leave the committee no choice but to invoke its constitutional powers to compel the GCEO’s attendance. Wadada also noted that the committee may adopt audit queries against other defaulting agencies.
“These agencies are the FCT High Court and the Federal Ministries of Solid Minerals, Steel Development, and Finance. If they fail to appear before the committee on Tuesday next week, they will hear from us,” he added.
