* Panel vice-chair walks out of meeting, laments national oil firm’s disregard for National Assembly
Sunday Aborisade in Abuja
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has come under fresh scrutiny after its top management failed to honour a Senate invitation over an ongoing investigation into crude oil theft, prompting a walkout by the Vice-Chairman of the Senate Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream), Senator Allwell Heacho Onyesoh.
The committee, which is probing crude oil theft and reviewing amendments to Nigeria’s petroleum laws to strengthen regulatory oversight, was forced to continue its deliberations on Thursday evening without the presence of the NNPCL’s leadership.
Speaking with journalists on Friday in his office, the Rivers East senator described the corporation’s repeated failure to appear before the committee as an affront to the constitutional oversight powers of the National Assembly and a dangerous precedent for public accountability.
