Senate committe gives NNPC three weeks to explain unaccounted N210trn

The Senate Public Accounts Committee on Tuesday gave the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) three weeks to explain queries raised against it by the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation in alleging that the sum of N210 trillion remains unaccounted for.

The committee chaired by Senator Ahmed Wadada (Nasarawa West) said that the amount in question was neither stolen nor missing but yet to be accounted for.

The  three-week window for explanations was given to the Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL, Engineer Bayo Ojulari after accepting his apology for his failure to appear before the committee on four consecutive occasions after being duly summoned.

Ojulari had after his apology to the committee, explained that for satisfactory response from him on the 19 queries raised, he needed more time to study the issues raised.

“I’m just over 100 days in the office as the GCEO of NNPCL. I still need time to do further digging, given the perspectives I have heard now into the issues, this is coming in the midst of a huge national assignment, your explanation now changes my perspective about the issues.

“I need to understand the issues myself so I can respond appropriately. I will get a team and get the details properly reconciled so we can work to provide answers to the queries.