The Senate's Committee on Public Accounts has issued a firm ultimatum to the management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, directing its Group Chief Executive Officer, Bayo Ojulari, to appear before the committee by April 29 to provide detailed and convincing answers to 19 audit queries covering a staggering N210 trillion flagged in the national oil company's audit reports from 2017 to 2023.
The committee directed that Ojulari must appear alongside the immediate past Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari, without fail on the stated date, and that they must come prepared with comprehensive explanations for every naira captured in the queries. Also expected to appear before the committee are former Chief Financial Officer Umar Ajia, Dr Bala Wunti, and the external auditors of the national oil company.
The resolutions of the committee followed a motion moved on Wednesday by Senator Osita Izunaso representing Imo West and seconded by Senator Adams Oshiomhole of Edo North. The Committee Chairman, Senator Aliyu Wadada of Nasarawa West, made clear that the explanations NNPCL had already submitted to the 19 audit queries were wholly unsatisfactory and fell far short of the standard of accountability that Nigerians deserved from the country's foremost revenue-generating enterprise.
Wadada took particular issue with NNPCL's handling of two massive figures within the overall N210 trillion. The first was N103 trillion, which the company had described in blanket terms as liabilities, a characterisation the Senate found deeply inadequate. The committee chairman noted that liabilities were not a single undifferentiated sum but had specific components such as retention fees, legal fees and audit fees, each of which must be clearly identified and the specific amounts spent on each stated with precision. The second was N107 trillion, which NNPCL claimed was expended on joint venture cash calls, but for which detailed explanations had not been provided, along with funds allegedly owed by certain defunct banks whose identities had not been disclosed to the committee.
"This committee, and by extension, the Senate, is not satisfied with the blanket explanation given by NNPCL on N103 trillion, which it claimed represents liabilities. Liabilities have components such as retention fees, legal fees and audit fees. Specific amounts spent on each of these components must be clearly stated and explained. Detailed explanations are also required for the N107 trillion which NNPCL said was expended on joint venture cash calls as well as funds allegedly owed by some defunct banks whose identities were not disclosed," Wadada stated, announcing the April 29 deadline for full compliance.
The matter was further underscored by Senator Abdul Ningi of Bauchi Central, who called on the committee to invoke the National Assembly's constitutional powers to compel the attendance of NNPCL officials, citing what he described as a pattern of growing reluctance to honour legislative invitations. He warned that the failure to enforce compliance threatened the very authority of the legislature and undermined the foundations of democratic accountability. "We must treat this matter with utmost seriousness. The strength of democracy rests significantly on the authority of the legislature. Unfortunately, there appears to be a growing reluctance to honour invitations from the National Assembly, leaving members feeling helpless in enforcing compliance," Ningi said.
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