Senate Demands Justification for N210tn NNPC Audits

The Senate Public Accounts Committee has issued a one-week ultimatum to external auditors of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) to justify N210 trillion in unexplained balance sheet entries. Committee Chairman Ibrahim Dankwambo emphasized that the figures in the financial statements cannot remain unreconciled.

The auditors were required to produce work papers and supporting documents for the certified accounts, which they have been unable to provide. Dankwambo questioned why the auditors could not present these documents immediately, given that the financial statements were already certified.

The committee expressed deep concern over the inability of NNPC Ltd and its auditors to reconcile the reported figures, which include N107 trillion classified as receivables and N103 trillion as payables. The Senate, represented by Abdul Ningi and Adam Oshiomhole, stated that the auditors must fulfill their obligations to defend their audit opinions and that NNPC, being wholly owned by the federal government, cannot invoke commercial secrecy to withhold information from Parliament.