The Nigerian Senate has ordered the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) to refund ₦210 trillion in unaccounted funds to the Federation Account.
This decision follows the rejection of NNPCL’s explanations regarding the missing sum, with the Senate Committee on Public Accounts describing the company’s claims as “contradictory and unjustifiable”.
The controversy surrounds ₦103 trillion listed as accrued expenses and ₦107 trillion as receivables in NNPCL’s audited financial statements from 2017 to 2023.
Senator Aliyu Wadada, chairman of the committee, questioned how NNPCL could have paid ₦103 trillion in cash calls to Joint Venture partners in 2023 alone, despite generating only ₦24 trillion in crude revenue between 2017 and 2022.
Wadada stated, “Cash Call arrangements were abolished in 2016 under the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
How can NNPC claim to have paid ₦103trn in one year, when it only generated ₦24trn in revenue over five years? Where did NNPC get that money?” The committee has threatened to summon former NNPCL officials if the current management fails to provide credible answers.
