₦210trn claim fails ‘Market-Woman Test’, FACT tells Senate

The viral claim that £210 trillion would disappear from the NNPCL between 2017 and 2023 does not pass the market women test, says a youth accountability group. Now they are asking the Senate to prove it or withdraw it.

In a statement on Friday signed by Johnson Momodu for the Fiscal Accountability Committee of Tomorrow, FACT, the group ripped into the title of the Senate investigation, calling it “a category mistake masquerading as a scandal.”

“Before the outrage, before the television panels, there is a simple duty we have ourselves: to check the accounts,” he told FACT.

Their calculations: Nigeria’s entire budget for 2024 is ₦28.7 trillion. The alleged missing sum 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,” the group said. “Even without a calculator, something should seem strange.”

FACT claims that the ₦210 trillion is not cash. It is a mix of liabilities owed to NNPCL – joint venture costs, royalties – and claims against NNPCL, such as 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.

The group’s 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.”

Even the Senate admits it never said P210 trillion was stolen, FACT noted, quoting the committee’s chair, Senator Wadada. “Once you remove the theory of theft, what remains is still not a scandal. What remains is an accounting issue.”

So FACT wants three things, quickly:

1. Show how it works: Publish the full methodology behind the ₦210 trillion figure.
2. Break down the number: Separate actual losses from liabilities and credits.
3. Names or money trails: Has it been traced back to an illegal person, 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 insists it is not defending 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.”

Their conclusion to the Senate: “Show us the bills. Or withdraw the figure.”

Because right now, FACT says, ₦210 trillion “acts like a stock,” not a real number.