KEY POINTS
- Lawmakers Reject NNPCL’s Explanations Over Missing Funds
- Committee Queries Contradictory Financial Records
- Public Anger Mounts as Questions Arise Over Oil Money and Living Costs
The Nigerian Senate has ordered the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, to refund ₦210 trillion to the Federation Account after rejecting the company’s explanations over the unaccounted sum.
The directive came on Tuesday after NNPCL’s Group Chief Executive Officer, Bayo Ojulari, failed to appear before the Senate Committee on Public Accounts to clarify 19 questions raised about the company’s financial statements.
The committee, chaired by Senator Aliyu Wadada, has been examining the firm’s financial records from 2017 to 2023, uncovering discrepancies that lawmakers described as “contradictory and unjustifiable.”
Lawmakers Reject NNPCL’s Explanation
Senator Wadada told the committee that the NNPCL’s financial documents listed ₦103 trillion as accrued expenses and ₦107 trillion as receivables, figures that could not be reconciled with the company’s reported earnings.
“NNPCL claimed ₦103 trillion as accrued expenses and ₦107 trillion as receivables, amounting to ₦210 trillion. On question eight, their explanation for the ₦107 trillion receivables, which is about $117 billion, contradicts evidence provided by NNPCL itself,” he said.
Wadada further questioned how the company could claim to have paid ₦103 trillion in cash calls to Joint Venture (JV) partners in 2023 alone when it only generated ₦24 trillion in crude oil revenue between 2017 and 2022.
“Cash Call arrangements were abolished in 2016 under the Buhari administration. How can NNPCL claim to have paid ₦103 trillion in one year when its total revenue over five years was only ₦24 trillion? Where did the company get that money?” he asked.
