The Senate has scheduled a sweeping investigation into Nigeria’s oil and gas sector beginning next week, summoning the Nigerian National Petroleum Company, the Central Bank of Nigeria and major international and indigenous oil companies to explain issues arising from Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative audit reports covering 2021 to 2023.

The investigation, to be conducted by the Senate Public Accounts Committee chaired by Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo, will scrutinize revenues, remittances and statutory compliance across the extractive industry, drawing authority from constitutional provisions governing legislative oversight. The committee said the audit reports contain detailed information on the financial and operational activities of industry stakeholders, and that hearings will assess compliance with the Constitution, the transparency initiative’s enabling law and other financial regulations.

Hearings are scheduled to begin August 3, with the transparency initiative, the upstream regulator, the central bank and the Niger Delta Development Commission appearing first, followed by other agencies including the midstream and downstream regulator and the national oil company in subsequent sessions. Major companies invited include Seplat Energy, TotalEnergies, Chevron Nigeria, Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production, and several other indigenous and multinational operators, with all organization’s directed to appear with their chief accounting officers and relevant documents, and warned that adjournment requests would only be granted in exceptional circumstances.