Senate Issues Ultimatum to Oil Firms Over NEITI Reports

The Senate Public Accounts Committee, chaired by Senator Ibrahim Hassan Dankwabo, issued a 48-hour ultimatum to Seplat Energy, Network E & P Nigeria Limited, All Grace Energy Limited, and Aradel Energy Limited, demanding their chief executives appear before the panel or face constitutional sanctions. This decision followed the companies' repeated failures to respond to queries from the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) audit reports for 2021, 2022, and 2023.

Senator Abdul Ningi criticized Network E & P Nigeria Limited's response, which claimed it answers solely to the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), calling it “disturbing and provocative.” Senator Shehu Kaka Lawan urged the committee to use its full constitutional powers, prompting Chairman Dankwabo to set the deadline. In contrast, Dubri Oil Company Limited attended the session to contest $3,025,000 in alleged liabilities from the NEITI report, claiming it had resolved discrepancies with NUPRC and submitted proof to the committee.