… says the country taken hostage by monumental corruption
The 2023 presidential candidate of the Labor Party (LP), Peter Obi, said Friday that the latest “financial irregularities” in the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) unearthed by the Senate confirmed its position that Nigeria has become “a crime scene.”
His reaction occurred 48 hours after the Public Accounts Committee of the Senate that examined the books of the 2017 oil company to 2023, claimed that more than N210 trillions could not be counted.
The figure included N103TN categorized as “accumulated expenses” and another N107TN classified as “accounts receivable”, which the committee said they were contained in the audited accounts of the NNPCL.
To the alarmed by development, the committee, chaired by Senator Aliyu Wadada, raised 11 questions for the NNPCL to answer within a week, although a team led by the company's financial director, Mr. Dapo asce, relentlessly disputed the committee's conclusions.
Speaking after the sessions that took place on Wednesday, Wadada declared: “This seemed very ridiculous, very unacceptable by the committee.
“You have heard everything that happened and now the questions are given. It is important that the public knows each of these questions emanating as a result of what we discover from the NNPC Audited Financial State from 2017 to 2023.
“Now, in just these two articles, accumulated expenses and then accounts receivable, we are talking about N210TN.”
Taking his handle x on Friday, Obi tweeted: “With the greatest sadness that once again reaffirms what I have constantly said: Nigeria has become a crime scene.
“In what other way is the recent revelation of the Senate explained, which discovered the audited accounts of the NNPC from 2017 to 2023? The Senate discovered N210 billion billion billion in financial irregularities, n103 billion billions in which” accumulated expenses “, and another trillion of N107 in” do not receive “do not accounts.
“This is not just another scandal, it is a clear and condemning confirmation of a nation that has the hostage of monumental corruption.”
Obi said he was stunned that the amount in question was much higher than the country's total national budget for the period under review (2017-2023).
He wrote: “Our national budget within this period from 2017 to 2023 is as follows: 2017, N7.440 billion. 2018, N9.120 billion 2019 N8.916 billion.
“(In) 2020, ₦ 10.590 was initially approved and in June reviewed ₦ 9,974 billion due to Covid. 2021, N13.588 billion. 2022 N17.130 billion. 2023 N21.830 billion. Total: N88.010 billion.
“Our total national budget within this period was not up to 50% of these financial discrepancies and irregularities.
“This is a criminal institutionalized betrayal of the Nigerian people and a serious threat to the future of society in which our children will live.
“No responsible nation can continue to function like this without facing this truth. This crime disguised as governance must be stopped and dismantled for a better Nigeria.”
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