Ultimatum: Senate Gives Kyari, NUPRC Chairman 24 Hours Deadline To Appear For Budget Defense
The Senate Committee on Appropriation on Wednesday, December 6, 2023, directed the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mr. Mele Kyari, to appear before it unfailingly within 24 hours.
Chairman of the Committee, Senator Adeola Olamilekan, who gave the directive at the sitting of the Committee, also summoned the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), to appear before the Committee.
Senator Olamilekan warned that failure to appear as directed would be taken as a deliberate attempt by Kyari and the NUPRC to undermine the legislature and sabotage the Appropriation process.
Kyari and the Executive Secretary of NUPRC are required to present the list of individual companies operating with OML licenses in Nigeria as well as the total production output approved on a daily basis.
The Senate Appropriation Committee Chairman expressed serious concerns that some of the revenues required to drive the 2024 budget was attributed to the NNPCL, which he noted was owned by the Federal Government and responsible to it, and by extension to the three arms of government.
The NNPCL had shunned for a second time, summons by the Senate to appear before its committee probing over N11trn expenditure on Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) of refineries in the country between 2010 and 2023.
The absence of the NNPCl chief Executive, Mr. Kyari, whose organisation is at the centre of the investigation, stalled efforts by the Senate panel to record any progress on the matter.
