The Senate Committee on Public Accounts has given the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) three weeks to respond to audit queries over N210 trillion in unaccounted funds from 2017 to 2023.
The directive was issued to Group Chief Executive Officer Engr. Bayo Ojulari, who appeared before the committee on Tuesday after missing earlier invitations. He apologised and requested more time to review the 19 audit queries, saying he has been in office for only about 100 days.
Ojulari said he needed time to understand the issues, consult external auditors, and reconcile records. Though he asked for four weeks, the committee granted three.
Committee chairman Senator Ahmed Wadada clarified that the N210 trillion includes N103 trillion in liabilities and N107 trillion in assets, not missing funds.
“We’re not saying the money is stolen,” he said. “We’re simply reviewing the audit report as part of our oversight duty.”
NNPCL is expected to submit written responses before appearing again with top management.
