On Tuesday, the Senate Committee on Public Accounts took a swipe at the heads of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and other agencies. This is because of their alleged refusal to respond to queries against them in the 2019 audit report.

Chairman of the committee, Ahmed Wadada (SDP-Nasarawa West), stated while speaking to journalists in Abuja. He decried their attitude.

Mr Wadada said any agency that refused to honour an invitation to defend its queries would have its queries sustained and reported to the Senate in plenary by the committee.

The legislator said the attitude of the affected public agencies on persistent refusal to respond to queries against them in audit reports was frustrating and detrimental to the aspirations and goals of President Bola Tinubu’s government.

According to him, apart from NNPCL, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), the police, and other heads of agencies involved in the habit of not honouring invitations, including 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 are the FCT Internal Revenue Service, Nigeria Immigration Service, Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, Ministry of Defence, Nigeria Communications Satellite Limited, etc.

“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.

“Besides 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 a basis for an informed decision on the matter by the committee. The committee is very displeased with the attitude of foot-dragging by agencies who are, by law, expected to respond to parliamentary invitations and account for their actions,” stated the senator.

(NAN)