The External Auditors of The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd.) has been given a one week ulrimito provide documents explaining over N210 trillion recorded as receivables and payables in the company’s audited financial statements.
The Senate Public Accounts Committee gave the order during a hearing on Wednesday.
The committee ordered the auditors to submit detailed schedules and audit papers showing about N107 trillion listed as receivables and N103 trillion recorded as payables.
The committee also rejected the auditors request for 14 days to retrieve the documents, as the auditors said yschedules formed part of their audit working papers.
Committee chairman, Senator Ibrahim Dankwambo, asked the auditors who had certified the accounts why it needed more time to produce documents backing the figures.
He asked them “If you already have the figures in your working papers, why do you need to go back before presenting them to this committee?”
According to the auditors, the NNPC Ltd. remained their client and should explain the disputed figures, but committee rejected the explanation, saying the auditors were accountable for the opinions they issued.
According to Senator Abdul Ningi, the Constitution mandates the National Assembly to compel any individual or organisation to produce documents relevant to its investigations.
Senator Patrick Ndubueze also questioned the credibility of the audit, warning that failure to provide supporting schedules would raise doubts about whether the audit was properly carried out.
The committee said past explanations by NNPC officials linking the figures to joint venture transactions did not reconcile the accounts.
Senator Adams Oshiomhole said the NNPC Ltd., as a government-owned company, could not hide behind commercial confidentiality to withhold information from parliament.
Dankwambo stressed that the committee was not alleging that the funds were missing, but said the combined N210 trillion remained unexplained and must be properly reconciled.
He directed the auditors to return within one week with the required documents.
