The Senate Committee on Public Accounts has given the external auditors of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) one week to provide a detailed breakdown of over ₦210 trillion recorded in the company’s audited financial statements, as lawmakers intensify their probe into the oil firm’s accounts.
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The committee, chaired by Senator Ibrahim Dankwambo, issued the directive during its resumed hearing on Wednesday in Abuja as part of its ongoing review of NNPC’s audited financial statements covering the 2017 to 2023 financial years.
At the core of the probe are two key entries in the audited financial statements – ₦107 trillion classified as receivables and ₦103 trillion recorded as payables.
When members of the committee sought the detailed schedules supporting the figures, the representatives of the audit firm instead asked to be given two weeks to make a submission.
However, senators raised objections, insisting that the auditors must quickly assist with the investigation.
Speaking, Dankwambo said, “When you have figures in the financial statements, there must be supporting schedules showing how those figures were arrived at.
“If you already have them in your working papers, why do you need to go back before presenting them to this committee?”
But the representatives explained that in professional practice, the details the lawmakers sought should come from their NNPC, being the principal, a position that was rejected by the committee.
To buttress the stance of the committee, Senator Abdul Ningi cited Sections 88 and 89 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) to highlight the powers of the National Assembly to summon or seek information from anybody connected with its investigation.
He noted, “The Constitution empowers this committee to invite any person and request any document necessary for our investigation. You are before this committee as independent auditors. Do not tell us you must first seek permission from your client before complying with the lawful request of Parliament.”
Senator Adams Oshiomhole also stressed the same point, saying,
“The alarms were raised because of the work you people performed.
“These figures came from your audit. Therefore, you cannot tell this committee that you must consult your principal before responding. You are responsible for your audit work and must answer questions arising from it.”
The committee also faulted the continued inability of both NNPC and its auditors to reconcile the receivables and payables.
For instance, Dankwambo observed that NNPC officials had consistently claimed the figures related largely to joint venture cash calls and payments, but had failed to identify the individual transactions or counterparties involved.
Dankwambo, a former Accountant-General of the Federation, states, “We have repeatedly been told these amounts relate to joint venture cash calls and joint venture payments.
“If that is the case, the company should be able to identify whose receivables and whose payables they are and reconcile them accordingly.
“The inability to identify the components of both figures is precisely why this committee considers the combined amount of over ₦210 trillion as unexplained.
“We are not saying the money is missing. We are saying the figures remain unexplained. For amounts of this magnitude to remain unreconciled in audited financial statements is deeply concerning.”
The committee gave the auditors one week to comply with the directive to supply the information and asked the auditors to leave.
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