Senate Threatens to Summon Former NNPCL Chiefs Over Alleged Missing N210 Trillion

•Rejects company’s explanations, declares figures ‘unjustifiable and unacceptable’

Sunday Aborisade in Abuja

The Senate yesterday threatened to summon past Group Managing Directors of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) after rejecting what it described as “unconvincing and contradictory” explanations from the oil company over N210 trillion alleged to be unaccounted for between 2017 and 2023.

The Red Chamber’s Committee on Public Accounts, chaired by Senator Aliyu Wadada Ahmed (Nasarawa West), expressed anger that NNPCL failed to appear before it despite picking the date for the hearing.

The committee had earlier directed the company to explain 19 audit queries raised against it by the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation covering the six-year period.

According to the committee, the company’s written response showed N103 trillion as “accrued expenses” and another N107 trillion as “receivables,” totaling N210 trillion, figures that the lawmakers described as “economically impossible and lacking verifiable evidence.”

Visibly irked by the company’s no-show, Senator Wadada said the committee would no longer accept any written submissions from NNPCL until its Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO), Engineer Bayo Ojulari, appears in person.

Wadada said, “Today, November 11, 2025, was a date chosen by NNPCL itself. It is unfortunate that none of its officials is here.”

“The public has been waiting for this. Even though we cannot conclude today in their absence, Nigerians deserve to know what we have found so far,” he said.

Wadada said the explanations submitted by the oil company “raised serious red flags,” particularly the claims of N103 trillion in expenses and N107 trillion in receivables.

He said, “NNPC claimed N103 trillion as accrued expenses and N107 trillion as receivables, amounting to N210 trillion.

“On question eight, NNPC’s explanation on the N107 trillion receivables, equivalent to about $117 billion, contradicts the company’s own records. The committee is duty-bound to reject this,” he stated.

The chairman also queried how NNPC could claim to have paid N103 trillion in joint venture cash calls in 2023 alone, when the company’s total crude oil revenue between 2017 and 2022 amounted to only N24 trillion.

“Cash call arrangements were abolished in 2016 under the Buhari administration. How then could NNPC pay N103 trillion in one year when it only generated N24 trillion in five years? Where did NNPC get that money?” Wadada asked.

He said, “As far as this committee is concerned, that figure is unjustifiable and unacceptable. The N103 trillion must be returned to the Treasury.”

He noted that the matter would be concluded when the NNPCL management finally appears before the panel.

He added that the committee also dismissed the N107 trillion receivables, which the company described as assets held in defunct banks, saying the explanation lacked detail or supporting documentation.

Wadada said, “NNPC said part of the N107 trillion is tied up in defunct banks but failed to name any bank or indicate the amounts involved.

“That lack of transparency is unacceptable. When you combine both figures, N103 trillion and N107 trillion, the NNPC must account for N210 trillion,” he stressed.

Wadada warned that if the current management of NNPCL was unable to provide satisfactory answers, the committee would not hesitate to compel the appearance of former top executives of NNPC and its subsidiary, the National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS).

He said, “If the present management of NNPCL cannot provide credible answers, we will subpoena former officials of NNPC and NAPIMS.

“By law, NAPIMS is a department under NNPCL and cannot maintain a separate account, yet it has been operating as if it were an independent entity,” he stated.

He further cautioned that future absences by the company’s top management before the Senate would no longer be tolerated.

“At any point this committee invites NNPCL, the Chief Executive must appear in person. Being out of the country will no longer be accepted as an excuse. The next invitation will require the GCEO’s physical presence,” he warned.

All members of the committee present at the session endorsed the chairman’s position, describing the company’s attitude as “a calculated attempt to frustrate legislative oversight and conceal the true state of national oil revenues.”

The development marks one of the most serious financial accountability challenges facing NNPCL since its transformation into a limited liability company under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).

Lawmakers insist that, corporate or not, the national oil company remains answerable to Nigerians for every naira generated from the nation’s petroleum resources.