The Senate Committee on Public Accounts has issued a 72-hour ultimatum to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) and other defaulting agencies to appear before it over their failure to honour previous invitations on audit queries.
The directive followed the absence of the agencies at the committee’s special legislative oversight and public hearing on the NEITI oil and gas industry audit reports for 2021, 2022 and 2023, forcing proceedings to stall on Monday.
The hearing was convened to examine NEITI’s audit reports on revenues, remittances, payments and financial obligations in the oil and gas sector, while also assessing compliance with relevant financial and extractive industry laws.
More than 50 ministries, departments, agencies and oil and gas companies were scheduled to appear before the committee between August 3 and August 25.
However, officials of the CBN, NUPRC, NDDC and NEITI failed to attend Monday’s opening session and did not provide any formal explanation for their absence.
Chairman of the committee, Senator Ibrahim Dankwambo, expressed disappointment over the development, noting that the hearing was organised to clear pending audit matters and strengthen legislative oversight.
“We scheduled this hearing in order to reduce the volume of work before the National Assembly and to promote and enhance our oversight responsibilities as members of the National Assembly,” Dankwambo said.
“Letters were issued, invitations were sent, and advertisements were placed in at least three national newspapers. Yet, more than one or two hours after the meeting was scheduled to begin, our guests have still not arrived.”
Members of the committee described the agencies’ absence as disrespectful to both the National Assembly and Nigerians.
Senator Babangida Hussaini, representing Jigawa North-West, said public institutions must be held accountable for the use of public funds.
“It is a distraction to the institution of the National Assembly for any agency, by whatever name or designation, to refuse to appear and answer audit queries that have been validly raised,” he said.
“I think Nigerians deserve better. Public funds have been expended, yet accounting for audit queries has become a problem.”
He added that lawmakers had suspended their recess and constituency engagements to attend the hearing.
“This committee needs to take drastic action. It is becoming embarrassing,” Hussaini stated.
Senator Patrick Ndubueze of Imo North argued that the agencies did not deserve another opportunity after failing to honour the invitations without explanation.
“If the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria invites the head of an agency and the person fails to appear, then something is fundamentally wrong,” he said.
“I want to lend my voice that we should invoke the proper constitutional powers and deal with this matter appropriately.”
Senator Nasiru Zangon-Daura of Katsina North also criticised the agencies for failing to communicate with the committee.
“No letter was written. No excuse was offered. No representative was sent to appear before the committee to explain why the chief executives could not attend,” he said.
Following deliberations, the committee adopted a motion directing the affected agencies to appear before it on Thursday, August 6.
Announcing the resolution, Dankwambo said the agencies had been given a final 72-hour window to comply.
“After consultation, we have agreed to move their appearance to Thursday, August 6, 2026, unfailingly, so that we can continue our legislative action,” he said.
He warned that any agency that failed to honour the rescheduled invitation could face sanctions under the provisions of the 1999 Constitution and the Senate Standing Orders.
Dankwambo also directed the committee secretariat to immediately notify the affected agencies of the decision.
“Please ensure that you contact the affected agencies and communicate how members of this committee feel,” he said.
“Also let them know that this committee and the National Assembly may invoke their constitutional powers if the agencies fail to appear on Thursday, August 6, 2026.”
The committee is expected to resume the public hearing on Tuesday with appearances by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) and other invited institutions.
