By Anayo Akwitti
The Senate Public Accounts Committee (SPAC) has given Seplat Energy, Network E&P Nigeria Limited and two other oil companies 48 hours to appear before it and respond to queries raised in the 2021, 2022 and 2023 audit reports of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI).
The other companies summoned are All Grace Energy Limited and Aradel Energy Limited.
The committee, chaired by Senator Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo, issued the ultimatum on Tuesday following the failure of the four companies to honour previous invitations.
The committee warned that failure to appear could trigger the invocation of the National Assembly’s constitutional legislative powers.
Senator Abdul Ningi (Bauchi Central) called for sanctions against the companies, particularly Network E&P, after the company reportedly informed the committee that it was accountable only to the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).
Ningi described the position as disturbing, stressing that Sections 88 and 89 of the 1999 Constitution empower the National Assembly to invite individuals, organisations and government agencies to explain matters under investigation.
Supporting the call, Senator Shehu Lawan (Borno Central) urged the committee to invoke its constitutional powers against companies that repeatedly ignored its invitations.
The committee subsequently directed the Managing Director of Network E&P Nigeria Limited to appear unfailingly on Thursday or face legislative action.
Similar 48-hour ultimatums were issued to the management of All Grace Energy, Aradel Energy and Seplat Energy after their representatives failed to appear before the committee.
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.
According to NEITI, based on information supplied by the NUPRC in 2025, Dubri Oil had outstanding liabilities of $3.025 million, comprising $2.378 million in gas-flare debt and $646,605.55 relating to oil production.
However, a representative of Dubri Oil, Soyode Olusoji Clement, disputed the figures, explaining that the query arose from a reconciliation issue between the company and NUPRC at the time the report was compiled.
He told the committee that the reconciliation had since been completed and that Dubri Oil no longer had any outstanding debt to the regulator.
Clement submitted relevant documents to support the company’s position.
The committee said it would carefully examine the documents before determining whether to clear Dubri Oil of the liabilities contained in the audit report.
