Senate Orders NNPCL to Resolve N210 Trillion Audit Queries Within Three Weeks

The Senate again demanded explanations from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited’s (NNPCL) management on Tuesday regarding the whereabouts of N210 trillion that was recorded in the company’s ledger.

The red chamber’s Committee on Public Accounts handed the oil sector regulator three weeks to address questions about its alleged N210 trillion in unaccountability in the 2017–2023 audit reports.

During this time, the committee led by Senator Ahmed Wadada Aliyu (Nasarawa West) maintained that the sum in question was not missing or stolen, but rather had not yet been recorded.

The NNPCL Group Chief Executive Officer, Engineer Bayo Ojulari, was given a three-week window for explanation after the committee accepted his apology for often missing meetings.

After expressing regret, Ojulari told the committee’s members that he required more time to thoroughly examine the nuances and viewpoints of the 19 questions posed in order to provide a satisfactory response.

As GCEO of NNPCL, I have been in my position for slightly over a hundred days. Even though I am in the middle of a massive national assignment, your explanation has altered my viewpoint on the difficulties, and I still need time to do more research to fully understand them.

“I must comprehend the problems personally in order to react correctly. A team will be assembled, and in order for us to begin working on answering the questions, kindly get the information accurately recorded.

“In the process, I will undoubtedly involve the external auditors and other pertinent parties,” he declared.

Despite his request for four weeks, the committee only gave him three, which he believes is sufficient for the response he believes NNPCL should provide.

Senator Wadada explained the specifics of the questions to the NNPCL GCEO, stating that the N210 trillion that is unaccounted for may be divided into two parts: N107 trillion in assets and N103 trillion in liabilities. He noted that both of these components need to be accounted for.

“None of the 18 or 19 questions we have on NNPCL came from the executive or judiciary, nor did they originate from our committee. These are inquiries taken from the NNPCL’s 2017–2023 audited financial statements by the auditor general.

Additionally, this committee has never claimed that the N210 trillion in question has been lost or stolen in relation to the inquiries. According to the committee’s constitutional role, it is conducting the necessary inquiry into the issues presented in the report.

Therefore, he stated, “the committee is giving NNPCL three weeks to send written responses to it on all the 19 queries. Following that, the GCEO and other management staff will be invited for physical appearance and defense.”

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Almost every committee member had discussed the gravity of the issues at hand prior to the chairman’s decision, but they were hopeful that the GCEO would provide clarification.

We have been waiting for you, so we are glad to have you here,” stated Senator Victor Umeh of Nambra Central. It is imperative that we have transparency, and Nigeria’s economic success is in the control of NNPCL.

“The issues are germane and critical,” stated Senator Babangida Hussaini (Jigawa North West), who stated that the NNPCL management team must investigate the issues brought up because governance is a continuum.

But according to Senator Tony Nwoye (Anambra North), another committee member, “Giving them (NNPCL) a fair hearing is very important and germane.” It’s possible that the audited report is inaccurate.