Reps summon NNPC over alleged irregularities

The chairman of the committee, Sarki Ada, issued the ultimatum at a public hearing on Thursday, following the refusal of NNPC to honour invitations or reply to its letters, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.

It quoted Ada as saying, “We have invited some oil companies; namely the NNPC, Addax Petroleum Company Ltd and Santex Nig Ltd, to appear before us and they have failed to do that.

“We are giving them two weeks from today. We will reschedule this meeting for two weeks, for them to appear before this committee and we will continue our business.”

According to the report, Ada said the committee would not hesitate to invite the Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari, to appear before it as the Minister of Petroleum, if NNPC does not honour its invitation.

“Buhari is a minister, he appointed himself and (was) approved by the parliament. And he is doing his job; we will invite him, and I know as a law-abiding president, he will come.

“When he comes, Nigeria should know that it is because of NNPC’s failure to appear that made him appear before us,” Ada said.

Ada noted that the committee asked for relevant documents to investigate the activities of the NNPC, but the corporation refused to oblige.

He said the committee had since written three letters requesting NNPC’s budget, its budget performance and list of assets being held and managed on behalf of Nigerians.

“We asked for a list of their liabilities, what are the contracts they are executing, who are the contractors, who are the companies and what is the progress made.

“We have asked for details of how much they generate from the sales of crude oil produce, how much do they manage on behalf of Nigeria through other joint ventures. Until today, there is no response.

“Time has come that we must speak, this country belongs to all of us, we are here as statutory Nigerians,” Ada added.