The Senate has directed the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) to refund ₦210 trillion to the Federation Account after rejecting the company’s explanations regarding the missing funds.
The resolution followed weeks of investigation by the Senate Committee on Public Accounts, chaired by Senator Aliyu Wadada, which had been probing the oil company’s financial statements from 2017 to 2023.
POLITICS NIGERIA reports that the committee took the decision after the Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL, Bayo Ojulari, failed to appear before lawmakers during Tuesday’s resumed session at the National Assembly.
According to the committee, the huge sum in question was discovered in NNPCL’s audited records as ₦103 trillion in accrued expenses and ₦107 trillion in receivables.
The lawmakers said both figures were questionable and not supported by available documents.
Senator Wadada said the panel reviewed all 19 questions earlier sent to NNPCL for clarification but found the responses “contradictory and unsatisfactory.”
“NNPC claimed ₦103 trillion as accrued expenses and ₦107 trillion as receivables – amounting to ₦210 trillion. On question eight, NNPC’s explanation on the ₦107 trillion receivables, equivalent to about $117 billion, contradicts available facts and evidence provided by NNPC itself. The committee is duty-bound to reject this,” he stated.
Wadada also raised concerns over NNPCL’s claims of paying ₦103 trillion as Cash Calls to Joint Venture partners in 2023, despite the company’s total crude revenue between 2017 and 2022 amounting to only ₦24 trillion.
He questioned the credibility of such figures, noting that “Cash Call arrangements were abolished in 2016 under the President Muhammadu Buhari administration. How can NNPC claim to have paid ₦103trn in one year when it only generated ₦24trn in revenue over five years? Where did NNPC get that money?”
The committee maintained that the explanation was unacceptable, directing that the said ₦210 trillion be refunded to the Treasury.
It also warned that if NNPCL continues to avoid the panel’s invitation, former top officials of the company and the National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS) would be summoned.
“If the present management of NNPCL is finding it difficult to provide acceptable answers, it is better they say so. The committee will not hesitate to subpoena former officials of NNPCL and NAPIMS,” Wadada added.
The Senate insisted that transparency and accountability must be upheld in the management of national oil revenue.