The Senate has rejected the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL)’s explanation over the alleged ₦210 trillion unremitted to the Federation Account, insisting that the funds must be returned.
The upper chamber made the resolution on Wednesday after months of investigation by the Senate Committee on Public Accounts, led by Senator Aliyu Wadada.
Lawmakers reached the decision when NNPCL’s Group Chief Executive Officer, Bayo Ojulari, failed to appear before the committee during its resumed sitting on Tuesday.
The committee had summoned the NNPCL to clarify answers it provided to 19 questions about the ₦210 trillion – ₦103 trillion (accrued expenses) and ₦107 trillion (receivables) – identified in the company’s audited financial statements for 2017‑2023.
Senator Wadada, chair of the committee, criticized the NNPCL’s written responses as “unsatisfactory and contradictory.”
He noted that the NNPCL claimed ₦103 trillion in accrued expenses and ₦107 trillion in receivables, yet the explanation for the ₦107 trillion receivables contradicted the evidence provided by the company itself.
Wadada also questioned how the NNPCL could pay ₦103 trillion in cash calls to joint‑venture partners in 2023 alone, despite having generated only ₦24 trillion in crude revenue between 2017 and 2022.
“The committee is duty‑bound to reject this,” Wadada said. “Cash call arrangements were abolished in 2016 under the Buhari administration. How can NNPCL claim to have paid ₦103 trillion in one year when it only generated ₦24 trillion in revenue over five years? Where did NNPCL get that money? The ₦103 trillion must be returned to the Treasury.”
The committee warned that if the current NNPCL management cannot provide acceptable answers, it will not hesitate to subpoena former officials of NNPCL and NAPIMS.
