Key points
- Former NNPCL Chief Financial Officer Dr. Umar Ajiya accused lawmakers of pursuing what he described as a “wild goose chase” in their probe of the former management.
- The Senate Committee on Public Accounts, chaired by Senator Ibrahim Dankwambo, resumed its examination of audited statements from 2017 to 2023.
- Lawmakers maintain that ₦210 trillion captured in the accounts—comprising ₦103 trillion in accrued expenses and ₦107 trillion in receivables—remains inadequately explained.
- The Senate panel initially directed its questions to current NNPCL GCEO Bayo Ojulari before summoning former senior officials.
- Ajiya strongly challenged the allegations, arguing that the Senate was misinformed and that the investigation was founded on an inaccurate reading of the books.
Main Story
Tensions escalated during proceedings at the Senate Committee on Public Accounts as the former Chief Financial Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Dr. Umar Ajiya, openly accused lawmakers of pursuing what he described as a “wild goose chase”.
The critical assessment was leveled against the Senate panel during its ongoing investigation into alleged financial discrepancies involving ₦210 trillion in unaccounted funds under the previous company management led by Mele Kyari.
The committee, under the chairmanship of Senator Ibrahim Dankwambo, resumed its detailed examination of the specific figures contained within NNPCL’s audited financial statements covering the period from 2017 to 2023. Lawmakers have repeatedly maintained that a total of ₦210 trillion captured across the company’s financial accounts remains inadequately explained by executives. According to legislative records, the staggering sum in question comprises ₦103 trillion recorded formally as accrued expenses, alongside another ₦107 trillion classified as receivables.
The Senate panel had initially directed its extensive series of accounting questions to the current NNPCL management team, which is headed by Group Chief Executive Officer Bayo Ojulari. However, parliamentary investigators subsequently extended the scope of their inquiry to former senior officials who were directly involved in the preparation, auditing, and management of the corporate accounts under review.
Appearing before the committee to address the tracking queries, Ajiya aggressively challenged the fundamental basis of the allegations. The former CFO argued that the Senate had been heavily misinformed by external parties and stated firmly that the entire high-stakes legislative investigation was founded on an inaccurate interpretation of the company’s books.
The Issues
- Resolving the severe friction between the Senate’s interpretation of corporate balances and the former management’s accounting definitions of expenses and receivables.
- Streamlining data handovers between the current NNPCL management under Bayo Ojulari and the former executives who prepared the audited accounts.
- Verifying the technical accuracy of the ₦210 trillion baseline figure to determine if lawmakers are acting on misinformed audit data.
What’s Being Said
- Defending the integrity of the previous management’s documentation, former NNPCL Chief Financial Officer Dr. Umar Ajiya accused lawmakers of pursuing what he described as a “wild goose chase” in their probe of the former management led by Mele Kyari.
- Challenging the technical competence of the legislative inquiry, Ajiya argued that the Senate had been misinformed and that the investigation was founded on an inaccurate reading of the company’s books.
What’s Next
- Committee Chairman Senator Ibrahim Dankwambo will decide whether to order a comprehensive recalculation of the disputed receivables and accrued expenses.
- Current GCEO Bayo Ojulari may be required to provide the Senate panel with secondary documentation to clear up the alleged bookkeeping inaccuracies.
- Legislative analysts will review the 2017 to 2023 NNPCL audited financial statements to verify if the ₦210 trillion figure was properly captured.
Bottom Line
The legislative probe into NNPCL’s past management has hit a major wall of resistance, as former CFO Dr. Umar Ajiya dismissed the Senate’s investigation into ₦210 trillion of expenses and receivables as an inaccurate “wild goose chase” born out of a complete misunderstanding of the company’s ledger books.
