By George Mgbeleke
External Auditors to the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited ( NNPCL) and National Petroleum Investment Management Services ( NAPIMS) on Tuesday tackled the Senate Committee on Public Accounts over their appearance before it .

The Senate committee had on the strength of queries raised in audit reports of the affected agencies before 2023 invited their external auditors to appear before it .

But the external auditors through a letter from their solicitor , Afe Babalola & Co, informed the committee that issues relating to the audit reports are already litigated against by aggrieved parties and will be subjudice for them to appear before the committee .

Dissatisfied with the reason given by the external auditors , the Committee in a counter letter dated 15th May , 2025 , ordered the external auditors to appear before it on Tuesday, 20th May , 2025 unfailingly.

The committee in the letter titled :” Re : Special Legislative Inquiry on the External Auditors to NNPCL and NAPIMS ” among others , told the external auditors that the scope of its work goes beyond the case before the court.

“That the Committee still stands on not being a party to any case that is between the External Auditors or the Court and cannot be sub-judice.

“That the external auditors have a duty of full disclosure of the claim in court, by furnishing the Committee of the Court process, so as to determine the involvement of the National Assembly or the Senate to the case on the subject of Sub-jucice.

“Arising from the foregoing, the External Auditors to NNPCL and NAPIMS are advised to honor the appointment of 20 May, 2025 as earlier acknowledged, else the Committee would explore its Power to compel attendance”.

However at the session on Tuesday , none of the external auditors appeared before the committee but represented by one of their solicitors , Oyetola Muyiwa Atoyebi ( SAN) who was not allowed to make any submission .

Atoyebi who later spoke to journalists , said the external auditors couldn’t appear before the committee to avoid subjudice .

“The committee had earlier been informed that the external auditors would not appear before it because issues to be deliberated upon are already in court and would amount to subjudice on their part to make any submissions on them .

” It is even subjudice for the committee itself to be holding session on issues being litigated against in the court of law “, he said .

By David Owei, Baylesa

Governor of Bayelsa State, Senator Douye Diri, has advised the management of Renaissance Africa Energy Company Limited that having acquired the assets of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), it should operate differently from the former owners of the oil firm.

The Bayelsa governor also urged the company to incorporate the interests of host state governments in its operations in order to reduce conflicts in host communities.

Senator Diri stated this on Wednesday when he received the management of Renaissance Africa Energy, including its chairman, Dr. Layi Fatona, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Chief Tony Attah, and other officials in Government House, Yenagoa.

The governor explained that before SPDC divested its assets, host communities were short-changed because the proceeds that accrued to them were grossly inadequate and resulted in agitations by state governments for a better deal.

“When we heard that SPDC had divested, we advised that the new company carries the host states along because part of the issues with the previous operator were that they were seen more like buccaneers. They were like people who came to the communities to collect and in return gave nothing back.

“Of course, the other party that also enjoys the oil arrangement is the federal government. Even out of protests and agitations, what the Niger Delta states get is a paltry 13 per cent.

“There is nothing wrong if states are co-owners with you even if it is a little percentage and that is what l have been pushing for. l think it is not too late now that we have our own people there.

“If we are co-owners, there is even the tendency that we will protect it more just as we are doing with the 13 per cent. See what you can do to include the interest of Bayelsa State.”

Senator Diri, who expressed dissatisfaction with the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), noted that, “under the act, the federal government and oil companies cut off the states and local governments and deal directly with the communities. Now we receive a lot of protests from the communities. It is only when trouble comes that they remember that there is a state government and a local government.

“But you have now come in. So please, do not be the buccaneers that people used to know about SPDC, Nigerian Agip Oil Company and all other oil companies that have operated on our land.”

The Bayelsa helmsman commended the management of the oil firm for acquiring SPDC, which had hitherto been dominated by foreigners for decades, saying that it was historical and something to be proud of.

“The good thing is that we have the same people that have been in the oil industry and have understudied and have been exposed to the intricacies. l hope that you are not going to make the same mistakes and that you are going to see the states and communities as part and parcel of your operations,” he said.

Diri assured of the state government’s commitment to partner with the company on energy security, adding that his administration was procuring a 60-megawatt gas turbine for independent power supply to the state.

He also appealed to the company to look in the issues of environmental pollution, stressing that as it had acquired the assets of SPDC, it should equally acquire the liabilities.

In his remarks, the Chairman of Renaissance Africa Energy Company Limited, Dr. Layi Fatona, said the delegation was in the state to introduce the company and its vision to the government having acquired SPDC’s assets.

He sought the state government’s collaboration in the area of energy security under the administration’s ASSURED Prosperity Agenda to help support Bayelsa’s development.

Also, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Chief Tony Attah, said the company recognised Bayelsa as being supportive to its predecessor (Shell) and commended Governor Diri for his visionary leadership.

Attah noted that the company intends to be Africa’s leader in energy security and facilitate industrialization using domestic gas for the interest of Nigeria, especially Bayelsa which has huge potential in gas.