The Senate Public Accounts Committee has ordered Seplat Energy and three other oil companies to appear before it within 48 hours to respond to queries contained in the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative audit reports for 2021, 2022 and 2023.
The committee issued the directive on Tuesday following the failure of the companies to honour repeated invitations to appear before the panel.
The affected companies are Network E&P Nigeria Limited, All Grace Energy Limited, Aradel Energy Limited and Seplat Energy.
The committee, chaired by Senator Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo, warned that failure to comply with the latest summons could trigger the full legislative powers available to the National Assembly.
The confrontation followed a call by Senator Abdul Ningi for sanctions against the companies that had failed to appear before the committee.
Ningi was particularly critical of a letter reportedly written by Network E&P Nigeria Limited to the panel, arguing that the company was accountable to the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission rather than the Senate committee.
Describing the response as “disturbing and provocative”, Ningi said the company had no basis to disregard a lawful summons from the National Assembly.
He cited Sections 88 and 89 of the 1999 Constitution, which, according to him, empower the National Assembly to summon individuals, companies and government agencies to provide information or explanations on matters under investigation.
“Sections 88 and 89 of the 1999 Constitution empower the National Assembly to invite anybody or agency for explanations on issues raised against them,” Ningi said.
Senator Shehu Kaka Lawan, representing Borno Central, also urged the committee to take action against companies that continued to disregard its invitations.
Following the submissions, Dankwambo directed the Managing Director of Network E&P Nigeria Limited to appear before the panel within 48 hours.
“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,” the chairman said.
The committee issued similar 48-hour ultimatums to the managing directors of All Grace Energy Limited, Aradel Energy Limited and Seplat Energy after recording their absence from the proceedings.
The companies are expected to respond to queries contained in NEITI’s audit reports, which examine revenue payments, financial obligations and other transactions in Nigeria’s extractive industry.
Dubri challenges $3.025m debt claim
Meanwhile, Dubri Oil Company Limited has disputed a $3.025m liability attributed to it in the NEITI audit report.
The liability, according to the report, was cited by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission in 2025 and comprised $2.378m in alleged gas flare debt and $646,605.55 relating to oil production.
Appearing before the committee, a representative of Dubri Oil, Soyode Clement, said the company did not owe the Federal Government the amount stated in the report.
He explained that the query arose from a reconciliation dispute between Dubri Oil and NUPRC during the preparation of the audit report.
Clement said the reconciliation had subsequently been concluded, insisting that the company had no outstanding liability.
He submitted supporting documents to the committee to substantiate the company’s position.
The committee, however, said it would review the documents before reaching a decision on whether the liability should be removed or the company cleared of the query.
The proceedings form part of the Senate’s continuing examination of audit queries arising from Nigeria’s oil and gas industry, particularly concerns over revenue losses, outstanding payments and compliance with financial obligations to the government.
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