The Senate has dismissed the explanations offered by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) regarding the ₦210 trillion reportedly unaccounted for by the oil firm.
At its sitting on Wednesday, the upper chamber concluded that the funds must be refunded to the Federation Account, describing the company’s responses as unsatisfactory and inconsistent.
The Senate Committee on Public Accounts, chaired by Senator Aliyu Wadada, decided after months of investigation into the company’s financial records. The resolution followed the failure of NNPCL’s Group Chief Executive Officer, Bayo Ojulari, to appear before the committee at its resumed session at the National Assembly on Tuesday.
The meeting was convened to allow the NNPCL clarify its responses to 19 queries raised by the panel over the ₦210 trillion discrepancy found in the company’s financial statements.
A review of NNPCL’s operations from 2017 to 2023 revealed ₦103 trillion in accrued expenses and ₦107 trillion in receivables—figures the committee said were not properly explained in the firm’s audited accounts.
Despite the company’s eventual submission of written responses, the committee found its explanations inadequate.
Senator Wadada, while addressing the panel, said the figures presented by NNPCL were contradictory and lacked supporting evidence.
“NNPC claimed ₦103 trillion as accrued expenses and ₦107 trillion as receivables, totaling ₦210 trillion,” Wadada said. “On question eight, NNPC’s explanation for the ₦107 trillion receivables—equivalent to about $117 billion—contradicts the facts and evidence provided by the company itself. The committee has no choice but to reject this.”
The lawmaker further questioned how NNPCL could claim to have paid ₦103 trillion in cash calls to Joint Venture (JV) partners in 2023 alone, despite generating only ₦24 trillion in crude oil revenue between 2017 and 2022.
“Cash Call arrangements were abolished in 2016 under President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration. How can NNPC claim to have paid ₦103 trillion in one year when it earned only ₦24 trillion over five years? Where did that money come from?” Wadada queried.
He described the figures as “unjustifiable and unacceptable,” insisting that the ₦103 trillion must be refunded to the Treasury once NNPCL appears before the committee again.
Wadada added that it would have been more credible for the company’s current management to admit difficulty in explaining the discrepancies rather than providing conflicting responses.
“If the present NNPCL management cannot give satisfactory answers, it is better they say so. The committee will not hesitate to summon former officials of NNPCL and NAPIMS to account for these transactions,” he warned.
