₦210 trillion “missing”? DONE in the Senate: “Show us the accounts…

ABUJA – A youth accountability group is challenging the Senate to back its viral NNPCL210 trillion figure, saying the claim “does not pass the market woman test.”

The Fiscal Accountability Committee of Tomorrow, FACT, in a statement signed by Johnson Momodu on Friday, called the number a “category error masquerading as a scandal” and called on lawmakers to prove it or rescind it.

“Before the outrage, before the television panels, there is a simple duty we have ourselves: check the accounts,” the group said.

FACT compared the charge to Nigeria’s 2024 budget of ₦28.7 trillion. The ₦210 trillion figure, he noted, is more than seven times that amount.

“Put simply, the indictment suggests that one company managed more than seven full years’ worth of Nigeria’s total national budget in a seven-year window,” FACT said. “Even without a calculator, something should seem strange.”

The group argued that the ₦210 trillion is not short of cash. It described the sum as a mix of NNPCL’s liabilities – joint venture costs, royalties – and claims owed to NNPCL, including subsidy claims.

“Adding them together and presenting the total as ‘missing money’ is no small mistake. It is a fundamental misunderstanding or, worse, a convenient distortion,” the statement read.

FACT offered an analogy: “If you owe your landlord ₦500,000 and someone else owes you ₦500,000, you are not a million naira poorer. You are balanced, at least on paper.”

The group pointed out that the chairman of the Senate Public Accounts Committee, Senator Wadada, made clear that the Senate never claimed that P210 trillion was stolen or missing. “Once you remove the theory of theft, what remains is still not a scandal. What remains is an accounting issue,” FACT said.

The commission listed three requests for the Senate:

1. Show how it works: Publish the full methodology behind the ₦210 trillion figure for independent review.
2. Break down the number: Separate actual losses, if any, from liabilities and credits.
3. Names or money trails: Confirm whether any party has been traced back to an illegal individual, account or payment.

“If the answer is no, then what we have is not a factual financial crime. What we have is a number in search of meaning,” FACT said.

The group said it is not advocating for anyone. “We are a coalition of young people, accountants and Nigerian citizens who are simply tired of seeing public debate collapse under the weight of exaggerated figures that defy common sense.”

FACT’s message to the Senate was blunt: “Show us the bills. Or withdraw the figure.”

Right now, the group said, ₦210 trillion “acts like a headline,” not a real number.

Related