Senate Committee Orders NNPCL’s Bayo Ojulari to Appear July 10 Over N210 Trillion Audit Discrepancy, Threatens Arrest

On Thursday, June 26, 2025, the Senate Committee on Public Accounts, chaired by Senator Aliyu Wadada (SDP, Nasarawa West), issued a 10-day ultimatum to the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Bayo Ojulari, to appear before it on July 10, 2025, to address discrepancies amounting to over N210 trillion in the company’s audited financial statements from 2017 to 2023. The directive, announced during a session in Abuja, followed NNPCL’s failure to attend a scheduled hearing to respond to 11 critical audit queries, instead requesting a two-month extension via a letter signed by Chief Financial Officer Adedapo Segun. Wadada rejected the request as “unacceptable,” accusing NNPCL of disregarding the committee’s summons and emphasizing that answers, not documents, were expected. He warned that failure to comply could lead to a warrant of arrest, invoking the Senate’s constitutional powers, and noted the absence of NNPCL’s external auditors as a further concern.

The audit discrepancies include N103 trillion in accrued expenses and N107 trillion in receivables, with undocumented items like N600 billion in retention fees and unspecified legal and audit costs. A notable inconsistency involves NNPCL’s subsidiary, National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS), reporting a N9 trillion profit from 2017 to 2021, while NNPCL recorded a N16 billion loss in the same period. Segun attributed the figures to unreconciled Joint Venture (JV) cash calls with partners like Shell and Chevron, citing governance delays, but Wadada dismissed fresh documents presented by NNPCL as contradictory to public audited reports (Platform Times, June 27, 2025). The committee, attended by EFCC, ICPC, NFIU, and DSS representatives, also issued warnings to the FCT High Court and Federal Ministries of Solid Minerals, Steel Development, and Finance to appear by July 1 or face consequences. Posts on X, like @channelstv and @ruffydfire, reflect public outrage over the “mind-boggling” N210 trillion, with @dammiedammie35 highlighting the scale of the alleged mismanagement. The probe underscores Nigeria’s fiscal challenges, with a 13.5% tax-to-GDP ratio (NBS 2025) and NNPCL’s critical role in funding 50% of the budget (Reuters, April 2025).