The Chairman, Senate Committee on Public Accounts, Senator Aliyu Wadada, said on Tuesday that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) had responded to all the 19 questions the committee asked the firm in respect of the ‘unaccounted’ N210 trillion in its audited financial statements.
Wadada disclosed that what was left was for the answers the NNPC provided to be laid before the committee for consideration.
‘NNPCL has provided answers to all 19 questions, yes, I can confirm that to you.
‘What we are waiting for is to lay these answers before the committee,’ he added.
Wadada, who declined to comment on the exact answers the committee received from the company, merely said that they could either be ‘positive’ or ‘negative’ but must wait for a full session of the committee to consider them.
The Senate committee, acting on the report of the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation, began looking into the books of the oil company for the period 2017-2023, arriving at the finding that N210trn was unaccounted for.
The probe started before the Senate proceeded on its annual recess on July 23.
However, the Senate committee cut short the break on July 29 to meet with the NNPC Chief Group Executive Officer (GCEO), Bayo Ojulari, who was appearing before the senators for the first time after several failed invitations.
Speaking at the July 29 session, Wadada had explained, ‘The N210trn unaccounted for are broadly in two components of N103trn liabilities and N107trn assets, which must be accounted for.
‘None of the 18 or 19 questions we asked NNPCL to explain neither comes from the executive or judiciary.
‘These are questions extracted from the audited financial statement of the NNPCL by the Auditor-General covering 2017 to 2023.
‘Also, this committee had not at any time said the N210trn in question, as far as the queries are concerned, was stolen or missing.
‘What the committee is doing is a required investigation into the queries raised in the report in line with its constitutional mandate.
‘Therefore, the committee is giving NNPCL three weeks to forward written responses on all 19 queries, after which the GCEO will be invited along with other management staff to appear for defence.’
Wadada spoke in response to a request Ojulari made for more time to be able to address the issues raised in the questions.
The GCEO had said, ‘I am just over 100 days in office as the GCEO of NNPCL. I still need time to do further digging, given the perspectives I have heard now on the issues. This is coming in the midst of a huge national assignment.
‘Your explanation now changes my perspective about the issues. I need to understand the issues myself so I can respond appropriately. I will get a team, and please get the details properly reconciled so we can work to provide answers to the queries.
‘In doing this, I will surely engage the external auditors and other relevant groups.’