The Senate Public Accounts Committee (SPAC) on Tuesday gave Seplat Energy, Network E&P Nigeria Limited and two other oil firms 48 hours to appear before it and answer queries raised against them in the 2021, 2022 and 2023 audit reports presented by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI).
The other two firms given the same ultimatum are All Grace Energy Limited and Aradel Energy Limited.
The committee, which is chaired by Senator Ibrahim Dankwambo, warned that failure to honour the invitation could lead to the invocation of the legislative powers of the National Assembly against the affected companies.
The ultimatum followed a resolution adopted by the committee after some senators expressed displeasure over the repeated absence of the companies from its proceedings.
Senator Abdul Ningi (Bauchi- Central) was the first to call for sanctions against the affected companies.
Ningi described a letter written by Network E&P Nigeria Limited to the committee, stating that the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) was the regulatory body it reported to, as disturbing and provocative.
He said the National Assembly had the constitutional authority to invite any person, organisation or agency to answer questions on matters under investigation.
The senator noted, “The Senate and, by extension, the National Assembly, is the custodian of Nigerian law and has the power to invite anybody or agency for explanations on issues raised against them.”
Supporting Ningi’s position, Senator Shehu Kaka Lawan (Borno-Central) called for the invocation of the constitutional powers of the Senate against the managements of the defaulting firms.
Dankwambo subsequently issued a 48-hour ultimatum to the Managing Director of Network E&P Nigeria Limited to appear unfailingly or face necessary sanctions.
The chairman said, “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.”
Similar ultimatums were issued to the Managing Directors of All Grace Energy Limited, Aradel Energy Limited and Seplat Energy after the committee noted their absence from the hearing.
Meanwhile, Dubri Oil Company Limited, which appeared before the committee, rejected a $3.025 million royalty and gas flare debt attributed to it in the NEITI audit report.
NEITI had reported, based on information submitted by the NUPRC in 2025, that Dubri Oil owed $3.025m. The amount comprised $2.378m in gas flare debt and $646,605.55 relating to oil production.
However, a representative of Dubri Oil, Soyode Olusoji Clement, faulted the query, explaining that the report was compiled at a time when the company was engaged in a reconciliation process with the NUPRC.
According to him, the reconciliation issue between Dubri Oil and the NUPRC had since been resolved, leaving no outstanding debt against the company.
Clement presented documents to the committee in support of the company’s position.
However, the committee said it would critically examine the documents before deciding whether to issue Dubri Oil a clean bill of health or interrogate the matter further.