By Nafisat Makinde
The Nigerian Senate Committee on Public Accounts, chaired by Senator Ahmed Wadada Aliyu, held a crucial hearing on Tuesday, July 29, 2025, to address audit queries relating to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL). The committee directed NNPCL to respond within three weeks to queries regarding an unaccounted N210 trillion, broken down into N103 trillion in liabilities and N107 trillion in assets.
The hearing, which saw the attendance of high-ranking officials, including the Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of NNPCL, Engineer Bayo Ojulari, was a significant step towards ensuring transparency and accountability in the nation’s petroleum sector. Ojulari, who recently marked 100 days in office, apologized for previous failures to honor invitations and requested additional time to review the technical and contextual details of the 19 audit queries raised.
“I need to understand the details myself so I can respond appropriately,” Ojulari told the committee. “Now that I’ve heard your perspective, it’s clear I must dig deeper. I will set up a team, engage external auditors, and reconcile the details properly before we submit our responses.”
Senator Wadada clarified that the N210 trillion is neither stolen nor missing but lacks proper documentation and explanation. He emphasized that the queries were extracted from audited financial statements submitted by the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation, covering the years 2017 to 2023.
“These are not arbitrary questions,” Wadada explained. “They are based on official audit reports. This committee has not, at any point, claimed that the N210 trillion is missing. What we are doing is in line with our constitutional duty to scrutinize public accounts.”
The committee granted Ojulari three weeks to submit written responses to all 19 queries, after which the GCEO and relevant members of his management will appear before the committee for further explanation. This development underscores the Senate’s commitment to ensuring transparency and accountability in the management of Nigeria’s petroleum resources.
