Senate orders NNPC to refund N210 trillion unaccounted funds to the Federation Account.
By Our Reporter.
The Senate has rejected the explanations provided by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) regarding the N210 trillion outstanding against the oil firm.
It was concluded on Wednesday that the money, which had not been accounted for, must be refunded to the Federation Account by the company.
The Senate Committee on Public Accounts, chaired by Aliyu Wadada, which has been conducting the probe for months, decided on Tuesday after the Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of the NNPC, Bayo Ojulari, failed to appear at its resumed sitting at the National Assembly.
The session was called to allow the NNPCL to clarify the answers the company provided to the 19 questions the panel asked about the N210 trillion.
Following a review of the NNPCL’s operations from 2017 to 2023, the committee noted the unexplained transactions, totalling N103 trillion (accrued expenses) and N107 trillion (receivables), in the audited financial statements of the firm, prompting it to raise these queries.
After weeks of back-and-forth between the committee and the NNPCL, the NNPCL eventually responded to the 19 questions posed by the committee.
However, at a resumed session, Senator Wadada frowned at the absence of Ojulari, whom the committee said had given no reasons for staying away, and consequently rejected the explanations.
The Chairman of the committee, Senator Aliyu Wadada, while speaking on the panel’s findings, stated that the responses were not only unsatisfactory but also contradictory.
“NNPC claimed N103 trillion as accrued expenses and N107 trillion as receivables, amounting to N210 trillion. Regarding question eight, NNPC’s explanation of the N107 trillion receivables, equivalent to approximately $117 billion, contradicts the available facts and evidence provided by NNPC itself. The committee is duty-bound to reject this,” he stated.
Wadada further questioned how the firm could pay N103 trillion in Cash Calls to Joint Venture (JV) partners in 2023 alone, despite generating only N24 trillion in crude revenue between 2017 and 2022.
“Cash Call arrangements were abolished in 2016 under the President Muhammadu Buhari administration. How can NNPC claim to have paid N103trn in one year, when it only generated N24trn in revenue over five years? Where did NNPC get that money?
“As far as this committee is concerned, that figure is unjustifiable and unacceptable. The N103 trillion must be returned to the Treasury. This will be concluded when the NNPCL appears before us,” he stated.
The committee stated that it would have been better for the current management of the NNPCL to acknowledge that it encountered challenges in explaining what happened to the funds, rather than providing contradictory answers to the questions.
“If the present management of NNPCL is finding it difficult to provide acceptable answers, it is better that they say so. The committee will not hesitate to subpoena former officials of NNPCL and NAPIMS,” Wadada added.
