By Godwin Adibe
The House of Representatives yesterday told the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited in clear terms that it must produce before it, the leadership of its 17 subsidiaries indicated by the report of the Auditor-General for the Federation over financial infractions between 2014 and 2019.

Speaking at the resumed investigative hearing on the report of the Auditor General, Chairman of the House Committee on Public Account, Oluwole Oke, said the action of the NNPC in shielding its subsidiaries amounted to hiding something from Nigerians.

But the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mele Kyari, told the committee that the company was not hiding anything from Nigerians, while also dismissing earlier media reports that about 107 million barrels of crude oil could be accounted for in 2018.

Oke said the House was shying away from invoking the provisions of the constitution to issue a warrant of arrest on the leadership of the subsidiaries who have refused to appear before parliament to answer questions arising from the Auditor-General of the Federation (AuGF) report.

Reacting to the statement by the GMD that he will take responsibility for the actions of the subsidiaries, Oke said “with due respect, the parliament differs with you because we are guided by the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Legislative Houses Privileges Act and our rules.

“Yes, you have submitted a consolidated account. But the Auditor General who submitted his report on us audited, conducted an audit under section 85 of the constitution and audited the account of these subsidiaries, publish the report, and submitted same to the parliament.

“The report specifically mentioned these subsidiaries and having done so, the parliament is duty-bound to take the queries and observations as contained in the report. Aside from this, parliament can also according to the provisions of the constitution invite anybody to give evidence before this parliament.

“If a particular agency under your leadership is mentioned, we cannot shave their head in their absence. They have to be here. Yes, you have rendered your account which is before us. But these subsidiaries must appear before this parliament to answer the queries raised by the Auditor-General for the Federation. They have to answer their father’s name.

“With due respect, the NNPC is not in a position to dictate to parliament how it conducts its business. We have to change the impression of Nigerians about NNPC. We have listened to the comments of some governors about NNPC and we must change the narration by telling Nigerians that NNPC operates transparently.

“Except and except you have something to hide, then you can continue to shield these subsidiaries. But they must appear before Nigerians and tell them about the funds in their kitty. They have to come here and answer the queries about the abnormalities the Auditor general observed in their operations. This is our position.

“We don’t want to go through the process of invoking the necessary laws by issuing a warrant of arrest. We believe that we can jaw-jaw that we can discuss because we are all serving Nigerians.

“These companies are your subsidiaries and if we are to go by your assertion that they are registered on their own under CAMA, then it further attests to the fact that they have to appear here by themselves.

“That is not even the issue, but that the Auditor General for the Federation specifically listed the names of these companies. That is our position. So, take a date when you are bringing them.

“Your purpose of coming today is to produce these subsidiaries because you wrote that these agencies are under you. That was why we asked you to bring the leadership of these subsidiaries. That is what we expected today.

“If they are here, they should introduce themselves and the Auditor General will be invited to read out the queries for them to answer because the queries were hot directed to you in person. They were directed to these subsidiaries. We object to your position. They must appear here because this is their parliament. If they are not here, so be it. That is why we said you should give us a date to bring them”

In his contribution, Chinyere Igwe (PDP, Rivers) said by the admittance of the GMD, he cannot legally stand-in for the subsidiaries since he admitted that they were registered under the Companies and Allied Matters Act and operating as individual companies.

Responding, the Group Managing Director of NNPC Limited, Kyari said “First, let me clarify an issue. NNPC has nothing to hide. We have nothing to hide from Nigerians. Given that, we have published the same audited account that you have for Nigerians to see, read and comment on.

“Those account is a complete reflection of all our transactions, including our subsidiary companies. So, we are hiding nothing from Nigerians.

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“I agree with you that we can be more transparent. Can we do something different from this? Absolutely yes. Are we doing enough? Yes, we are doing more than enough. No National oil company in this world publishes its audited statement of account. No company publishes its monthly report as we do.

“Therefore, I expect that you should congratulate us that we are doing more than expectations in terms of transparency and accountability. We owe this to Nigerians because it is their company and we sincerely believe that this companies art owned by the over 200 million Nigerians, we are accountable to them and we must be transparent by every means possible.

“But as we do this, we must also recognize that we are running a business on their behalf Nd this business has rules and responsibilities and part of it is to have a report of this nature which the Auditor General endorses by law for them to deliver on.

On the ruling of the committee, the GMD said “It is still very fair because I know that this is a very fair parliament. You are representatives of the people and so, have a responsibility to protect the people. You also have a responsibility to allow us to speak.

Reacting to the reported missing of 107 million barrels of crude oil, Kyari said “I believe that this parliament represents all Nigerians collectively. We can have individual differences, but we all represent the interest of Nigerians. The image of Nigeria is very important.