Senate Issues 10-Day Ultimatum as NNPCL Fails to Appear for N210tn Audit Probe
By Rejoice Peterside
The Senate has issued a 10-day ultimatum to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) to appear before its Committee on Public Accounts over alleged financial discrepancies amounting to more than N210 trillion in its audited reports from 2017 to 2023.
This stern warning followed NNPCL’s failure to honour a scheduled appearance on Thursday, June 26, 2025, where its executives were expected to answer 11 critical audit queries already communicated to them.
Instead, the company sent a letter signed by its Chief Financial Officer, Dapo Segun, requesting a two-month extension, citing an ongoing senior management retreat and the need to collate relevant documents.
“While appreciating the opportunity provided and the importance of this engagement, we reassure you of our commitment to the success of this exercise,” the letter stated.
But the committee, led by Senator Aliyu Wadada, rejected the request outright, stating that the hearing was not for submission of fresh documents but for oral clarification on existing audit records.
“For an institution like NNPCL to ask for two months to respond to questions from its own audited records is unacceptable,” Senator Wadada said. “If they fail to show up by July 10, we will invoke our constitutional powers. The Nigerian people deserve answers.”
The hearing was attended by representatives from the EFCC, ICPC, and DSS, but no NNPCL official or external auditor was present, a move lawmakers described as a deliberate evasion of accountability
Senator Abdul Ningi (Bauchi Central) insisted that the Group Chief Executive Officer, Bayo Ojulari, who replaced Mele Kyari in April, must personally lead the NNPCL delegation at the next hearing.
Senator Onyekachi Nwebonyi (Ebonyi North) described the extension request as an admission of unpreparedness.
Senator Victor Umeh (Anambra Central) warned the company not to test the resolve of the Senate.
“If they fail to appear again, Nigerians will know the Senate is not a toothless bulldog,” Umeh said.
Last week, the Senate panel had grilled CFO Segun and other top executives over “mind-boggling” entries in the company’s books, including N103 trillion in accrued expenses and another N103 trillion under receivables figures that were later altered in a revised submission by NNPCL.
Among the flagged expenses were over N600 billion in retention fees, legal charges, and auditing costs, none of which were backed by documentation.
The committee reiterated that failure to appear by July 10 would attract legislative sanctions, including arrest warrants or plenary resolutions recommending punitive action.
The NNPCL, which was commercialized as a limited liability company in 2021, has consistently come under fire for opacity in its financial operations an issue the Senate now appears determined to confront head-on.
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