A dramatic claim that ₦210 trillion had disappeared from the accounts of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has been dismissed by a former top executive, who told lawmakers the figure resulted from a misunderstanding of financial records rather than evidence of missing money.
Appearing before Nigeria’s Senate Committee on Public Accounts, former National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS) chief Bala Wunti said a review of NNPC’s 2023 audited financial statements found no evidence that ₦210 trillion had gone missing.
The allegation, which sparked widespread public debate over the finances of Africa’s largest oil producer, stemmed from the incorrect addition of two separate accounting entries. Wunti explained that about ₦107 trillion represented money owed to NNPC by other parties, while roughly ₦103 trillion reflected liabilities the company owed to others.
“These are two completely different accounting items that cannot be combined and described as missing funds,” he told the committee, adding that international accounting standards require both figures to be reported separately.
Wunti also rejected reports that ₦5.8 billion was spent to incorporate NNPC after the implementation of Nigeria’s Petroleum Industry Act (PIA). According to him, the actual statutory payment to government agencies was about ₦2.45 billion, while the larger amount resulted from duplicate accounting entries recorded for reporting purposes.
He maintained that there were no reported cases of fraud or missing funds during his leadership of NAPIMS and later as Chief Offshore Investment Officer of NNPC Upstream Investment Management Services.
The Senate committee’s chairman, Senator Ibrahim Dankwambo, said lawmakers had not found evidence that money was missing from NNPC’s accounts. He explained that the ongoing review is aimed at ensuring transparency and obtaining a clear understanding of the company’s audited financial statements, rather than confirming allegations of financial misconduct.
The committee is expected to continue examining the submissions before deciding whether further clarification is needed, as scrutiny of NNPC’s finances remains a matter of national and international interest due to Nigeria’s strategic role in the global energy market.
