– As Reps postpones hearing
OpeOluwani Akintayo
Lagos — The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC Limited and its subsidiaries, on Wednesday, again failed to appear before the House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts investigating non-revenue remittances to the treasury following the audit report of the Auditor General of the Federation covering 2014 to 2019.
Mele Kyari, Managing Director of the Company, had in a letter to the panel chairman, Oluwole Oke at the resumed hearing, said he was unable to attend the probe due to a function on crude oil theft held in the Niger Delta.
Kyari had been accused of shielding the NNPC Limited and its 17 subsidiaries from appearing before the committee in the effort to get them to respond to the queries on their expenses from 2014 to 2019.
Following the allegations, House of Representatives’ Committee on Public Accounts had in a summon letter to Kyari, asked him to produce heads of its 17 subsidiaries for questioning.
The letter was 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.
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.”
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.
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