Senate Orders NNPC to Refund Unaccounted N210trn to Federation Account

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Senate has told the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited to return N210 trillion in outstanding payments to the Federation Account, as it rejected the explanations provided by the state oil firm.

The conclusion was reached on Wednesday as a committee investigating the issue noted 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 Mr Aliyu Wadada, which has been on the probe for months, took the decision on Tuesday after the Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of the NNPC, Mr Bashir Bayo Ojulari, failed to turn up at its resumed sitting at the National Assembly.

The session was called to give the NNPC Limited the opportunity to make clarifications on the answers the company provided to the 19 questions the panel asked the firm about the N210 trillion.

Following a review of the operations of the state owned oil firm from 2017-2023, the committee sighted the unexplained transaction, totaling N103 trillion (accrued expenses) and N107 trillion (receivables) in the audited financial statements of the firm, totalling N210 trillion thereby prompting it to raise the queries.

After weeks of back-and-forth between the committee and the NNPC, the NNPC  eventually responded to the 19 questions.

However, at a resumed session, Mr Wadada frowned at the absence of Mr Ojulari, whom the committee said gave no reasons for staying away, consequently rejected the explanations.

The Chairman of the committee while speaking on the panel’s findings, said the responses were not only unsatisfactory, but were also contradictory.

“NNPC claimed N103 trillion as accrued expenses and N107 trillion as receivables -amounting to N210 trillion. On question eight, NNPC’s explanation on the N107 trillion receivables -equivalent to about $117 billion -contradicts available facts and evidence provided by NNPC itself. The committee is duty-bound to reject this,” he stated.

Mr 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 N103 trillion in one year, when it only generated N24 trillion 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 NNPC appears before us,” he stated.

The committee said it would have been better for the current management of the NNPC to admit that it encountered challenges in explaining what happened to the funds than giving contradictory answers to the questions.

“If the present management of NNPC is finding it difficult to provide acceptable answers, it is better they say so. The committee will not hesitate to subpoena former officials of NNPC and NAPIMS,” Mr Wadada added.