The Senate on Thursday summoned the immediate past Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mele Kyari, over alleged unaccounted expenditures totaling N210 trillion between 2017 and 2023. The lawmakers said the amounts had not been properly explained in the company’s financial reports.
Kyari has been facing corruption trial since leaving office.
Also summoned are the former Chief Financial Officer, Umar Isa, and the former Group General Manager of the National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS), Bala Wunti. The Senate committee probing the accounts warned that failure to appear would attract warrants of arrest.
The panel additionally questioned why the corporation reportedly spent about N5 billion on changing its name from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to NNPCL.
Senator Aliyu Wadada (Nasarawa West), chairman of the committee, briefed journalists on the resolutions, stating that the former management must appear alongside the current GCEO, Bayo Ojulari, and the external auditors who served during the period under review.
“The NNPCL should refund the sum of N210 trillion, comprising N103 trillion and N107 trillion, which were not properly accounted for as contained in the audit reports,” Wadada said. “The company must also remit to the treasury all production costs charged against crude oil revenue, as NNPCL and its subsidiaries, including NAPIMS, do not directly produce crude oil.”
He stressed that a forensic audit of NNPCL’s financial statements should be conducted by the Auditor General for the Federation in line with Section 85 of the Constitution.
On the N5 billion spent for the name change, Wadada described it as “unacceptable” and demanded a satisfactory explanation.
The summons followed NNPCL’s failure to provide adequate responses to 19 questions from the Senate arising from the audit report. According to Wadada, NNPCL claimed that the N103 trillion represented cumulative expenditures by joint venture partners from JV Cash Calls between 2017 and 2023, a response the committee deemed unsatisfactory.
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“The subsidy receivables stood at N107 trillion as of December 2023, recorded as sundry receivables allegedly owed by banks and other entities,” he explained. “When combined, these amounts total N210 trillion, which remains unresolved and must be properly accounted for.”
Despite the scrutiny, Wadada emphasized that the committee remained supportive of President Bola Tinubu’s administration and its commitment to promoting transparency, probity, and accountability in managing public funds.