A coalition of professionals under the Ajiyya Solidarity Forum has rejected allegations that about N210tn is missing from the accounts of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, describing the figure as both unrealistic and politically driven.
ASF National Coordinator, Usman Hamza, told journalists that the claim, credited to the Chairman of the Senate Public Accounts Committee, Ahmed Wadada, was “mathematically impossible” and crafted to provoke public outrage rather than illuminate the state of NNPC Limited’s finances.
Hamza argued that the allegation collapses under basic scrutiny, pointing out that Nigeria’s entire 2024 national budget is about N28.7tn. According to him, suggesting that a single government-owned company could lose nearly eight times the national budget “is an insult to the intelligence of Nigerians” and ignores the country’s fiscal realities.
The forum further criticised threats of arrest warrants against former NNPC Limited officials, including former Chief Financial Officer, Umar Ajiya, describing such moves as elements of a broader campaign of political blackmail rather than a genuine search for accountability.
ASF contends that the Senate committee may have misread NNPC Limited’s books by conflating accrued expenses and receivables in a way that falsely suggests missing money. Hamza said the committee appeared to have “netted” about N103tn in accrued expenses, largely joint venture liabilities, against N107tn in receivables owed to the company, then presented the figures as unaccounted funds.
“Labelling money owed to a company as ‘missing funds’ is a professional travesty,” he said, insisting that what is at issue are complex balances typical of a large commercial entity, not evidence of looting.
The forum also stressed that the allegations ignore the sweeping financial and structural reforms NNPC has undergone in recent years. Hamza noted that Ajiya’s tenure coincided with the implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act, which transformed NNPC from a state corporation into NNPC Limited, a commercially driven entity.
According to ASF, that transition ended decades of opaque reporting and led to the publication of NNPC’s first audited financial statements in 43 years. The group defended the N5.9bn cost of the transition, saying it covered extensive legal, regulatory and structural work required to convert the old corporation into a limited liability company.
The forum warned that turning parliamentary oversight into a political weapon risks undermining Nigeria’s credibility with international investors, who closely watch how the country treats its flagship national oil company.
ASF called on the Senate leadership and its Ethics Committee to investigate alleged bribe demands linked to the ongoing oversight process and urged lawmakers to halt what it described as the harassment of officials who have already provided multiple technical responses.
Hamza maintained that genuine public accountability must rest on “a sober forensic review of facts, not sensational claims and phantom numbers.”
