The Senate Committee on Public Accounts has given the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) a 21-day deadline to explain financial discrepancies amounting to ₦210 trillion in its audited accounts.

NNPCL’s Group Chief Executive Officer, Bayo Ojulari, made the request for more time to respond during a committee hearing on Tuesday. Appearing before the committee following an earlier summons, Ojulari stated that he had only been in office for about 100 days and needed more time to thoroughly examine and understand the discrepancies in the audited financial statements for 2017 to 2023.

“I need to carry out further internal reviews and reconciliation to provide the answers the committee requires,” he said, pledging to assemble a team to work on the queries.

The committee’s concerns relate to ₦103 trillion in liabilities and ₦107 trillion in assets, which lawmakers described as troubling and lacking verification. Committee Chairman Senator Aliyu Wadada described the figures as “mind-boggling,” noting that the liability figures could not be substantiated and that the receivables listed as assets were equally unverifiable.

The figures were extracted from NNPCL’s audited reports, and the company is expected to provide concrete explanations for both its assets and liabilities. Some lawmakers criticised the NNPCL’s approach to the matter, accusing the company of showing disregard for the Senate. They questioned why the CEO, despite earlier representations by his team, appeared unfamiliar with key financial details.

In response to Ojulari’s appeal, the committee granted a 21-day extension for the NNPCL to return with a comprehensive and reconciled explanation.