The House of Representatives Committee on Public Account has scheduled December 15 for the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd. (NNPCL) to appear and account for alleged revenue leakage in the company.
Chairman of the committee, Rep. Bamidele Salam, gave the ruling in a hearing on Monday in Abuja, after the NNPCL management had failed to honour several earlier invitations.
In a letter addressed to the committee and read by Salam, the NNPCL management blamed its absence at Monday’s hearing on a meeting with the president, asking for a 60-day extension.
The lawmaker, however, said that the committee had written the NNPCL management over seven times to appear, but that it had declined to honour any, with similar excuses.
In his ruling, Salam said that the committee found it unacceptable that a large corporate organisation had been in consistent defiance of notice of hearing consistently.
He said that there were some major issues identified by the Auditor-General for the Federation, most of which bothered on revenue leakages to the tune of trillions of naira that ought to have accrued to the government through the operations of NNPCL.
The lawmaker noted that the revenues had not been remitted into the federation account.
“The only way we will agree that this is a new NNPCL is to see a shift in the conduct of your affairs, including your corporate management practice, which is part of accountability.
“We do not think that the NNPCL should continue in this seeming contempt of the parliament.
“So we agree as a committee to give you up till next week, Monday, Dec. 15, for a fresh appearance.
“We are dealing with so many issues. If you have been here in the last couple of weeks, you will see the things we are doing.
“Please ensure that whoever has the responsibility to submit any of the outstanding documents that have not been submitted does so.
“It is very important that we have the necessary documents to work with before the date,” he said.
Rep. Hassan Bappa (PDP-Taraba) said it was the responsibility of the committee to oversight institutions in Nigeria, stressing that NNPCL cannot be above the committee.
“I can tell you, if you see how NNPCL has been flouting various committees in this house; I think this is their final bus stop,” he said.
Supporting the argument, Rep. Kafilat Ogbara (APC-Lagos) said that the company had failed to honour invitations several times and should not be allowed to dictate the new date.
Ogbara said that the committee should move it as a motion and compel NNPCL to appear before the week ran out, a position also held by the Deputy Chairman of the committee, Rep. Jeremiah Umaru (APC-Nasarawa).
Earlier, the NNPCL Liaison Officer to the National Assembly, Mr Umar Farooq, explained that the absence of NNPCL management was not deliberate.
Farooq explained that the management was already prepared to appear before the committee until a letter from the presidency came late Friday night.
“Mr Chairman Sir, if you can recall, we were here with you on Friday; we were here with you, I mean, on Wednesday, to show our seriousness and to show the readiness of our management to come and appear before this august committee.
“Unfortunately, we could not, due to the letter we received from the presidency.
“It is now a new NNPCL that is willing and ready to partner with the parliament for the good of all Nigerians,” he said. (NAN)
