Senate Issue 24-Hour Ultimatum To NNPCL, NUPRC Boss To Defend Budget

Mele Kyari, the Group Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, has been given a 24-hour notice to appear before the Senate Appropriations Committee by Senator Adeola Olamilekan, the committee’s chairman.

Naija News reports that on Wednesday, the chairman of the committee additionally requested that Kyari be present in the presence of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission’s Executive Secretary.

The Senate had earlier issued a summons to the oil agency to appear before its committee over an investigation into the country’s spending of over N11 trillion on refinery turnaround maintenance between 2010 and 2023. The agency had previously disregarded the request.

The committee requested that they provide a list of every company operating in Nigeria with an OML license as well as the total amount of production that is authorized each day.

But Olamilekan cautioned that not showing up undermines the legislature.

Recall the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Olayemi Cardoso, the accountant general of the Federation, Oluwatoyin Madein, and seventeen other people were ordered to be taken into custody by the House of Representatives Committee on Public Petition because they had neglected to show up for interrogation on their roles.

On Tuesday, Fred Agbedi of the Peoples Democratic Party (Bayelsa) moved the motion for the arrest. He stated that the behavior of those invited—who had been invited more than three times without showing up—made the arrest warrant inevitable.