THE Senate Committee on Public Accounts has raised a serious concern over N200 trillion unaccounted funds in the audited financial statements of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), which is more than Nigeria’s 10-year budget put together.

The committee, chaired by Aliyu Wadada, raised the alarm during the investigative session on Wednesday, June 18, when Dapo Segun, the NNPCL chief financial officer, appeared before the committee.

It highlighted discrepancies in the absence of detailed records to justify massive legal and auditing fees, as well as contradictions in receivables claimed to be worth approximately N210 trillion between 2017 and 2023.

“Legal fees were accrued without any explanation or documentation regarding the legal services rendered. The auditors’ fees raise similar questions. There are no clear justifications. Everything we’ve seen and heard from the audited financial statements is troubling,” Wadada said.

The chairman further pointed out that the main concern was with the receivables.

“Trillions of naira are in question, and the new document they presented this afternoon doesn’t match what’s already in their audited report. It’s completely independent and contradictory,” Wadada remarked.

According to the committee, the discrepancies stem directly from the analysis of NNPCL’s audited financial statements spanning 2017 to 2023, and not from speculation.

To seek clarity of these audited accounts, the committee then handed over a list of 11 queries to NNPCL’s finance team to respond to within one week.

The chaired was quoted as assuring that the matter would not be swept under the rug, especially as the President Bola Tinubu-led administration, under its Renewed Hope agenda, seeks transparency and accountability in public finance.

Over the years, there have been concerns about the transparency and accountability in the operations of the NNPCL.

In April 2023, The ICIR reported about an investigation the National Assembly carried out against the NNPCL over allegations of N20 billion payment to a ghost consultant.

In September 2024, an ICIR analysis flagged discrepancies in crude oil sales declared by the NNPCL in its audited account from what was captured by the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI).

The report attracted the attention of the executive secretary of NEITI, Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, who admitted to the discrepancies and commented that the organisation observed a huge gap in data harmony.

He said NEITI recommends that the NNPCL should invest more in data management processes and establish technology-driven controls to prevent future discrepancies.