The “Defunct Division” Defense: A Pre-Planned Alibi
Notice a pattern? When asked for documentation on a $22.84 million overpayment, NNPC’s response is that the “Crude Oil Marketing Division (COMD)… no longer exists.” For a $1.93 million vessel charter scandal, the blame is placed on the “now-defunct PPMC.”
This is not a coincidence; it is a systemic strategy. By constantly restructuring and “winding down” divisions, the NNPC builds a ready-made archive of institutional amnesia. It creates a corporate structure where accountability has an expiration date, and the paper trail is designed to dissolve.
The “SAP Number” Shield: The Bureaucratic Runaround
In multiple instances, the NNPC’s official response to queries is to request the “correct SAP details” from the auditors themselves. This is a breathtaking power move. It frames the state oil company not as the custodian of its own transactions, but as a passive entity that cannot be expected to find its own records.
It transforms a multi-billion dollar national corporation into a black box that demands its interrogators provide the key. This isn’t a defense; it’s a declaration of unaccountability.
The “Unsatisfactory” Loop: A Ritual of Impunity
The most predictable part of the report is the phrase “the auditor deemed the response unsatisfactory.” This has become a ritual. The NNPC provides a legally-vetted, technically-worded non-answer, the auditor rejects it, and the finding enters a limbo of “valid but unresolved.”
This loop is a feature, not a bug. It allows the spectacle of oversight to proceed without the inconvenience of consequence. The Public Accounts Committee gets its report, the headlines are written, and the system continues, unchanged.
The Real Conclusion: A Sovereign Cartel
The NNPC does not function like a company accountable to a nation. It operates as a sovereign cartel, using the language of corporate governance and state bureaucracy as a shield. Its primary product isn’t oil; it is deniability.
The scandal, therefore, is not that someone stole money. The scandal is that the system is so perfectly designed that we may never know who, how, or how much—and that, even when we catch a glimpse, the architecture of the system makes recovery and reform nearly impossible. This audit isn’t a list of crimes; it’s a blueprint of the getaway car.
