Senate Gives NNPCL Three Weeks to Address Audit Queries on N210 Trillion …Clarifies Amount Is Neither Stolen Nor Missing

By our Correspondent

The Senate, on Tuesday, directed the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) to respond within three weeks to audit queries relating to an unaccounted N210 trillion, as contained in financial reports covering 2017 to 2023.

The directive was issued by the Senate Committee on Public Accounts, chaired by Senator Ahmed Wadada Aliyu (Nasarawa West), who emphasized that the amount in question was not missing or stolen, but rather lacked proper documentation and explanation.

The Committee handed down the ultimatum after accepting an apology from the Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of NNPCL, Engineer Bayo Ojulari, for his prior failure to honour previous invitations.

In his remarks, Ojulari—who recently marked 100 days in office—pleaded for additional time to fully review the technical and contextual details of the 19 audit queries raised. He said a thorough response would require collaboration with external auditors and internal teams to ensure the issues are appropriately addressed.

“I need to understand the details myself so I can respond appropriately,” Ojulari told the committee. “Now that I’ve heard your perspective, it’s clear I must dig deeper. I will set up a team, engage external auditors, and reconcile the details properly before we submit our responses.”

Although Ojulari had initially requested four weeks, the committee granted him three weeks, which he agreed would be sufficient for compiling the necessary explanations.

Explaining the components of the audit queries, Senator Wadada clarified that the N210 trillion is split into N103 trillion in liabilities and N107 trillion in assets—figures that must be fully reconciled and accounted for by NNPCL.

He further stressed that the queries were not allegations made by the Senate but were extracted from the audited financial statements submitted by the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation.

“These are not arbitrary questions. They are based on official audit reports covering the years 2017 to 2023,” he explained. “This committee has not, at any point, claimed that the N210 trillion is missing. What we are doing is in line with our constitutional duty to scrutinize public accounts.”

Wadada added that NNPCL is expected to submit written responses to all 19 queries within three weeks, after which the GCEO and relevant members of his management