– As Reps to publish queries on national dailies
– Probe starts Friday
OpeOluwani Akintayo
Lagos — The House of Representatives’ Committee on Public Accounts has issued a summon letter to Mele Kyari, Group Managing Director of the defunct Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, now Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, asking him to produce heads of its 17 subsidiaries for questioning starting from this Friday.
The Chairman of the committee, Oluwole Oke, issued the summons in a letter to Kyari, dated March 16, 2022, and titled, ‘Consideration of the Auditor General for the Federation’s Annual Report on Federation Account 2014-2019 Financial Year and Non-Rendition of Audited Account by the NNPC Subsidiaries Covering the Period 2014-2019 to the Auditor General Office.’
The subsidiaries include the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company Limited, Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company Limited, Pipeline and Products Marketing Company Limited, Duke Oil Company Inc, West Africa Gas Limited, and Nidas Marine Limited, which are to appear on Wednesday, March 23, 2022.
Also, Hyson (Nigeria) Limited, Nigeria Gas Company, National Engineering and Technical Company, National Petroleum Exchange, NNPC Pensions Limited, and Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company are to appear on Thursday, March 24, 2022.
The summon was necessitated following accusation that NNPC was shielding its 17 subsidiaries in the effort to get them to respond to the queries on their expenses from 2014 to 2019.
According to the committee, the queries are allegations of mismanagement of public funds running into several trillions of naira over the years.
The letter read in part, “Pursuant to section 85, 88 and 89 of the 1999 Constitution as amended and Order XX Rule 6 of the House of Representatives Standing Order, I write to, again, request you to provide all the managing directors of the following 17 NNPC subsidiaries with their accounting officers to appear before the committee and answer all issues raised against them in the above subject matter.”
Those to appear on March 25, are Port Harcourt Refining Company, the NNPC Retail Limited, Integrated Data Service Limited, National Petroleum Investment & Management Services, and Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency.
The committee asked those summoned to provide copies of their audited accounts from 2015 to 2021 in compliance with Financial Regulation No, 3210(v), and evidence of submission of copies to the Office of the Auditor-General Office for the Federation.
The NNPC and its subsidiaries are also to present to the committee, evidence justifying non-cooperation in respect of constitutional checks conducted based on Section 85(4) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Chairman of the committee also said queries from the audit reports will be published on national dailies.
Follow us on twitter
