Senate slams NNPCL, FIRS, others over alleged refusal to respond to queries

The Senate Committee on Public Accounts took a swipe at the management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited ( NNPCL) and other agencies on Tuesday.

This is for their persistent refusal to respond to queries raised against them in the 2019 Audit report.

The chairman of the committee, Sen. Ahmed Wadada (SDP-Nasarawa West), made this known while speaking to newsmen in Abuja.

He decried the attitude of the agencies for failing to respond to queries raised against them in the 2019 audit report.

Wadada said that going forward, any agency that refused to honour its invitation to defend its queries would have its queries sustained and reported to the senate in plenary by the committee.

He said the attitude of the affected public agencies towards their persistent refusal to respond to queries against them in the audit report was frustrating and detrimental to the aspirations and goals of the President Bola Tinubu-led government.

According to him, apart from NNPCL, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Police, other heads of agencies involved in the habit of not honouring invitations include the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation.

“Nigeria Mining Cadastre Office, Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (former DPR) and Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment.”

Others, he said, were the FCT Internal Revenue Service, Nigeria Immigration Service, Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, Ministry of Defence, Nigeria Communications Satellite Limited, etc.

He said: ” It is worthy to state that the committee commenced the consideration of the Audit Report in October 2023, with a view to presenting its report to the Plenary.

“However, some agencies have willfully failed to honour invitations to defend their written responses to the audit queries as submitted to the committee’s secretariat.

“Beside the demand for submission of written responses to audit queries, part of the committee’s rules of engagement requires that accounting officers attend its public hearing.

“This is to respond to questions arising from the analysis of their submissions, which in turn forms the basis for informed decision on the matter by the committee.

“The committee is very dissatisfied with the attitude of foot dragging by agencies who are by law, expected to respond to parliamentary invitations and account for their actions.”