The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has strongly refuted allegations of financial misconduct, insisting that neither the company nor its employees are involved in theft or misappropriation of public funds.
Speaking during a hearing of the Senate Public Accounts Committee on Thursday, former NNPCL Chief Financial Officer, Umar Ajiya, dismissed claims that funds had gone missing from the state-owned energy company. His remarks came in response to criticism reportedly made by Senator Adams Oshiomhole, who had described the NNPCL as a “house of thieves” amid ongoing scrutiny of the company’s financial operations.
Addressing lawmakers, Ajiya maintained that the company had always been transparent in its financial dealings and had consistently subjected its accounts to public scrutiny.
“We are not thieves. ₦2.9 billion was used to register NNPC, not ₦5.8 billion,” Ajiya told the committee. “I have been presenting and defending the company’s reports to this committee over the last five or six years.”
He further assured the Senate and Nigerians that there was no evidence of missing funds within the organisation.
“I need to give assurance to Mr Chairman and distinguished Senators present here today, and in fact all Nigerians, that there is no money missing,” he said.
Ajiya also clarified reports surrounding expenditures incurred during the incorporation and rebranding of the company, stressing that the actual amount spent was ₦2.9 billion rather than the ₦5.8 billion figure being circulated.
Defending the company’s record on transparency, the former finance chief pointed to the publication of audited financial statements as proof of NNPCL’s commitment to accountability.
“Let me make it very clear that if money was actually missing in NNPC during our period, we would not have had the courage to publish the audited accounts in the past 44 years,” Ajiya stated.
According to him, the company deliberately made its financial records available to both regulatory authorities and the public in an effort to build trust and dispel concerns about opacity in its operations.
“The accounts were prepared and never kept hidden from the public, and even sometimes with the Auditor-General of the Federation,” he said.
He added: “So we made it a duty upon us not only to give to the Auditor-General, but also to put it on our website, let Nigerians criticise and scrutinise to get out of the opaqueness and that lack of trust that the public had on NNPC.”
The Senate committee’s investigation forms part of ongoing efforts by lawmakers to examine financial activities within the oil company and address concerns raised over its management of public resources. :::
