Audit Queries: Lawmakers Approve Kyari’s Extension of Time Request, 17 Heads of NNPC Subsidiaries Shun Summon

Udora Orizu in Abuja

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited and heads of its 17 subsidiaries yesterday failed once more to appear before the House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts (PAC) which is investigating non-revenue remittances to the federal government’s treasury.

The Committee had written to the Group Managing Director (GMD) of NNPC, Mr. Mele Kyari, over audit queries issued against it and its subsidiaries.

The committee had accused the NNPC of shielding its 17 subsidiaries in the effort to get them to respond to the queries on their expenses from 2014 to 2019. It had asked the GMD of the NNPC to produce their heads at specific dates.

At the scheduled date for the investigative hearing, in a letter addressed to the Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Wole Oke, Kyari stated that he was engaged in a function on theft of crude oil in the Niger Delta, hence his unavailability.

The committee therefore, ceded to his request for an extension of time and fixed April 29, when it is hoped Kyari would appear in person with the relevant documents for the investigation.

The committee was however, not happy with MTN’s unwillingness to cooperate by tendering requested documents that would ease the findings of the lawmakers.

The lawmakers lamented the abuse of fiscal regulations by individuals and companies doing business in the country as most of them were found to be evading taxes

The General Manager, Financial Operations of MTN, Yemisi Adeleye who appeared before the lawmakers failed to tender a certificate of assets status of the company, issued her organisation by the Ministry of Trade and Investment.

The certificate was expected to contain the assets of the company which determines how much tax is expected of them.

Since incorporation in 2001, the GM said MTN had invested more than N3.4 trillion in Nigeria and has paid more than N2.5 trillion in taxes, levies and other regulatory fees as at December 2021 including N669 billion in 2021 alone.

The committee directed the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to furnish it with all MTN import duty documents as well as other relevant tax documents to ascertain if waivers were given legally or wrongly to the telecom firm.