N210trn Probe: Senate Issues Threats to NNPCL Top Executive, Gives 10 More Working Days to Respond to Queries

By James Adamu in Abuja

The Senate Committee on Public Accounts (PAC) yesterday gave the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) additional 10 working days to respond to its enquiry into the over N210trillion the panel says cannot be accounted for by the oil firm.

The alleged financial irregularities, broken into “accrued expenses” of
₦103 trillion and another ₦107 trillion “receivables”, were captured in the audited books of the NNPCL.

However, the PAC, which has been looking into the operations of the NNPCL for the years 2017-2023, had raised 11 questions for the organisation at its earlier sitting last week when it uncovered that the firm could not account for the funds.

The committee, which is chaired by Senator Aliyu Wadada, had given the oil firm one week up to Thursday, June 26, to answer the questions.

For example, one of the questions required the NNPCL to explain how the National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS), a subsidiary of NNPCL, declared a profit of N9trn between 2017 and 2021, while the NNPCL itself recorded a loss of N16billion.

During last week’s session, a team from the NNPCL was led by the Chief Financial Officer, Mr Dapo Segun.

However, at the resumed sitting of the panel on Thursday, the NNPCL didn’t appear physically. Instead, it wrote the committee requesting for two months to be able to process the information and documents the panel demanded from the organisation.

The letter also stated that the top executives of the NNPCL, who could have adequately addressed the questions, were out of the country on other engagements.

Upon reading the content of the letter, Wadada furiously reacted: “nonsense!”

He went on, “This committee is not expecting any documents from the NNPCL. We were expecting answers to the 11 questions we asked them.

“Why should a corporate body like the NNPCL request for two months to respond to queries that emanated from their own internal audit?

“They are given 10 working days, which will be the 10th of July, to provide answers. If by that date they do not respond accordingly, all the powers of the Senate will be invoked to compel appearance.”

Some members of the committee, including senators Onyekachi Nwoebonyi, Abdul Ningi, Victor Umeh and Tony Nwoye, after conferring for a few minutes, resolved that the Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the NNPCL, Engr Bayo Ojulari, must lead the firm’s team to the next sitting of July 10.

Last week, Wadada had spoken elaborately on how the panel set about raising the questions.

He explained, “The explanation of what led to the NNPC’s audited financial statement from 2017 to 2023, which of course, having looked at that document, we came up with questions.

“But the specific ones today, the most important, were the ones I asked before we eventually decided to give them all the 11 questions and then the ultimatum of one week for them to respond to.

“In the audited financial statement, they said accrued expenses was and still is, since that is what is contained in the statement, N103 trillion.
And what make up accrued expenses are, one, retention fees, legal fees and auditors fees. Retention is known, of course it is known to be 5% of total contract sum. And no reference, no mention was made to the contracts that led to this retention.

“And the retention figure is 600 and something billion. And then accrued the legal fees, no details of legal engagements that led to the fee go attached to the legal fees.”

Speaking further, Wadada said,
“And the auditors fees, we have all seen what you’ve seen, you’ve heard and listened to the audited financial statement that was produced by the auditors of NNPC. The next thing of concern is the receivables. The receivables is N103 trillion.

“Ironically, completely independent of what is contained in the audited financial statement that have got to do with these receivables, just this afternoon, before the commencement of the exercise, NNPC brought a new document, a document to the committee that is completely independent of what is contained in the audited financial statement and with items that contradict the items contained in the audited financial statement.

“This we found very ridiculous, very unacceptable by the committee.
You have listened to all that transpired and the questions are now handed over to them. It is important for the public to know each of these questions emanated as a result of what we discovered from the audited financial statement of NNPC from 2017 to 2023.

“Now, on these just two items, accrued expenses and then receivables, we are talking over N210tn.

He added, “And in this day and age, I mean, permit me to say, in Nigeria of today, that President Bola Tinubu as headmaster of the project called Nigeria, is committed to changing the narratives in the system. Changing these narratives, which is enveloped by the Renewed Hope Agenda, cannot be achieved without the needed and required funding.

“So, it is a government that needs all the support for funds to be made available to the government.
And under such a quest, these figures are mind-boggling, they are scary, they are, of course, worrisome.

“For us, as representatives of the people, we will do the best we can. I know for a fact that this will not just go down the drain.

“Well, how can it be erroneous? It is all emanated, the figures emanated from the audited financial statement of NNPC. And you’ve heard the contradictions. They said reconciliation had not been done.
So if reconciliation was not done, why did they sign off to the audited financial statement? And this audited financial statement is already in the public domain. And NNPC is planning to go to the market for an IPO.

But, the NNPCL’s team disputed the position of the committee, saying that the conclusions were wrong.