KEY POINTS
- The Senate has given NNPCL until April 29 to explain N210 trillion flagged in audit reports from 2017–2023.
- Lawmakers rejected the company’s earlier responses, demanding detailed breakdowns of liabilities and expenditures.
- Officials, including current and former NNPCL leadership, have been summoned, with warnings of enforcement if they fail to appear.
The Nigerian Senate, through its Public Accounts Committee (PAC), has issued a firm directive to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, to account for N210 trillion flagged in audit reports spanning 2017 to 2023.
The committee has given the oil company’s management until April 29 to appear before it with detailed explanations.
The directive mandates the attendance of the Group Chief Executive Officer, Bayo Ojulari, alongside former GCEO Mele Kyari, signaling the seriousness of the probe into the financial discrepancies.
Chairman of the committee, Aliyu Wadada, expressed dissatisfaction with the responses earlier submitted by NNPCL to 19 audit queries. According to him, the explanations lacked clarity and failed to adequately justify the massive sums in question.
He noted that while NNPCL attributed N103 trillion to liabilities, the breakdown of these liabilities, such as legal fees, audit costs, and retention fees, was not sufficiently detailed.
Questions Over N107 Trillion Spending and Missing Details
The committee also raised concerns over N107 trillion reportedly spent on joint venture cash calls and funds allegedly owed by unnamed defunct banks. Lawmakers insisted that these claims must be substantiated with verifiable details, including the identities of the financial institutions involved.
During the session, Senator Abdul Ningi stressed the need to enforce legislative authority, warning against continued disregard for parliamentary invitations by public institutions.
He suggested invoking the National Assembly’s constitutional powers to compel compliance if NNPCL officials fail to appear, describing the trend of non-attendance as a threat to democratic oversight.
