The House of Representatives’ Public Accounts Committee is set to question officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over alleged financial breaches totalling more than N802.19 billion. The allegations are drawn from Auditor-General for the Federation reports covering the 2021, 2022 and 2023 financial years, which raise queries on procurement processes, revenue handling, payments and compliance with financial rules.
Reporting indicates the NNPCL faces the larger share of the alleged issues, including queries of about N514 billion from the 2021 audit. These include claims of irregular deductions from domestic crude oil sales totalling N343.64 billion, as well as other items such as N83.66 billion reportedly lodged in a sinking fund account and N82.95 billion in alleged unauthorised deductions from Federation revenue. INEC is expected to address alleged breaches of about N288.19 billion contained in the 2022 audit queries.
While the core focus is the committee’s scheduled questioning, one outlet also reports the committee issues a seven-day ultimatum related to HYPREP. Across the reports, the committee is chaired by Bamidele Salam and the hearings are described as part of the process for clarifying the audit queries.
