The Senate Public Accounts Committee has issued a 48-hour ultimatum to four oil companies to appear before it and respond to queries contained in the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) audit reports for 2021, 2022 and 2023.
The affected companies are Seplat Energy, Network E&P Nigeria Limited, All Grace Energy Limited and Aradel Energy Limited.
The committee, chaired by Senator Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo, issued the directive on Tuesday after the companies failed to honour previous invitations to explain issues raised in the audit reports.
The companies were warned that failure to appear could trigger the use of the National Assembly’s constitutional powers to compel their attendance.
The committee’s decision followed concerns from lawmakers over the repeated absence of the companies, with Senator Abdul Ningi of Bauchi Central particularly critical of a response submitted by Network E&P Nigeria Limited.
Network E&P had argued in its letter to the committee that its operations fall under the oversight of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).
Ningi rejected the position, stressing that the National Assembly has the constitutional authority to summon individuals or organisations to provide explanations on matters under legislative investigation.
“The Senate and by extension, the National Assembly, is the custodian of Nigeria law that has power to invite anybody or agency for explanations on issues raised against them,” he said, citing Sections 88 and 89 of the 1999 Constitution.
Senator Shehu Kaka Lawan of Borno Central also backed the move to invoke the committee’s legislative powers.
He specifically directed the Managing Director of Network E&P to appear before the committee on Thursday, following two missed invitations.
“Having failed to honour 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,” Lawan said.
The committee subsequently issued similar 48-hour directives to the management of Seplat Energy, All Grace Energy and Aradel Energy.
The investigation forms part of the Senate’s consideration of issues arising from NEITI’s audit of Nigeria’s extractive industries, including financial obligations and other discrepancies identified in submissions made by relevant government agencies.
Meanwhile, Dubri Oil Company Limited appeared before the committee to challenge a $3.025 million liability attributed to the company in the NEITI audit.
The NEITI report, based on information supplied by NUPRC in 2025, listed Dubri as owing $2.378 million in gas-flare-related obligations and another $646,605.55 linked to oil production.
Together, the figures amounted to $3.025 million.
Representing Dubri, Soyode Olusoji Clement told the committee that the reported liability arose while the company and NUPRC were undergoing a reconciliation process.
He maintained that the reconciliation had since been completed and that Dubri no longer had any outstanding debt.
The company submitted documents to support its position.
The committee, however, stopped short of clearing Dubri immediately, saying it would examine the documents before determining whether the company should receive a clean bill of health.
The latest Senate action underscores the committee’s renewed scrutiny of outstanding issues arising from NEITI’s audit reports and its insistence that companies named in the reports provide direct explanations for the queries raised against them.