The Senate Committee on Public Accounts has directed the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) to account for and refund a total of N210 trillion flagged in its audited financial statements, while summoning members of the company’s former management team to appear before it.
Chairman of the committee, Senator Aliyu Wadada Ahmed (Nasarawa West), who announced the resolutions to journalists, said the former management team must appear before the panel alongside the incumbent Group Chief Executive Officer, Bayo Ojulari.
Wadada said the committee reached the resolutions after the national oil company failed to provide satisfactory explanations to 19 questions raised by lawmakers based on findings contained in the audit reports.
Announcing the committee’s resolutions, the senator said the NNPCL must refund N210 trillion representing N103 trillion and N107 trillion which were allegedly not properly accounted for in the audited financial statements.
“NNPCL should refund the sum of N210 trillion, being the combined sum of N103 trillion and N107 trillion, which were not properly accounted for as contained in the audit reports. The NNPCL should and must account for the two figures,” he said.
The committee also directed the oil company to remit to the treasury all production costs previously charged against crude oil revenue during the period under review.
Wadada explained that the directive became necessary because the NNPCL and its subsidiaries, including the National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS), do not directly produce crude oil.
“The second resolution of the committee is that the NNPCL should refund to the treasury all production costs charged against crude oil revenue for the period under review since the NNPC and its subsidiaries, NAPIMS and others, do not directly produce crude oil,” he said.
The committee further summoned the immediate past management of the company, including former Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari; former Chief Financial Officer, Umar Ajia Isa; and former Group General Manager of NAPIMS, Bala Wunti, to appear before the panel.
According to Wadada, the former officials are expected to appear before the committee together with the current management of the company and the external auditors who handled the accounts during the period under review.
“Thirdly, that the immediate past management of NNPCL and NAPIMS, which includes Mele Kyari as the then GCEO, Umar Ajia Isa as the then CFO and Bala Wunti as the then GGM, NAPIMS, should and must appear before the committee and be led by the present management with the entire body of the external auditors that served within the period under review,” he said.
The committee also recommended that the Auditor-General for the Federation conduct a forensic review of the company’s audited financial statements for the period in question.
“Fourthly, that the Auditor General for the Federation should carry out a forensic audit review of the audited financial statements of NNPCL for the period under review in line with Section 85 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999 as amended),” Wadada stated.
The panel also raised concerns over the expenditure of N5 billion reportedly spent on the rebranding of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).
“This to us in the committee is unacceptable, and satisfactory explanations must be given,” the lawmaker added.
Explaining the figures in question, Wadada said NNPCL claimed that the N103 trillion represented cumulative expenses incurred by its Joint Venture partners from JV cash calls since 2017, an explanation the committee said was unsatisfactory.
He added that the company’s audited financial statements also listed N107 trillion as subsidy receivables as of December 2023, which NNPCL claimed were owed by banks and other entities.
“When put together, NNPCL needs to properly account for N210 trillion,” he said.
Despite the concerns raised during the session, the committee reaffirmed its support for the administration of President Bola Tinubu, stressing that the Federal Government remains committed to transparency, accountability and probity in the management of public funds.
