Senate summons ex-NNPC boss Kyari over alleged N210 Trillion mismanagement

The Senate Committee on Public Accounts has summoned the immediate past Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mele Kyari, along with former Chief Financial Officer Umar Ajia Isa and former Group General Manager of the National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS), Dr. Bala Wunti, over an alleged N210 trillion not properly accounted for by the company between 2017 and 2023.

The summons, issued Thursday by the committee chaired by Senator Aliyu Wadada (Nasarawa West), follows a review of audit queries relating to the company’s financial records. Wadada warned that the panel would issue warrants of arrest if the former officials fail to appear before it on a date to be communicated.

The former management team is expected to appear alongside the current NNPCL leadership, led by Group Chief Executive Officer Engr. Bayo Ojulari, as well as the external auditors who served the company during the period under review.

Wadada told journalists that the committee had directed NNPCL to account for the combined sum of N210 trillion, comprising N103 trillion and N107 trillion identified in audit reports. “NNPCL should refund the sum of N210 trillion, being the combined sum of N103 trillion and N107 trillion, which were not properly accounted for as contained in the audit reports. NNPCL should and must account for the two figures,” he said.

The committee also instructed the company to remit to the Treasury all production costs charged against crude oil revenue during the period under review, noting that NNPCL and its subsidiaries, including NAPIMS, do not directly produce crude oil.

According to Wadada, the committee reached its resolutions after the company failed to provide satisfactory responses to 19 audit queries. NNPCL had claimed that the N103 trillion represented cumulative expenditures by joint venture partners from JV cash calls between 2017 and 2023, a claim the panel rejected. The company also recorded N107 trillion as subsidy receivables and sundry debts owed by various banks and other entities, which the committee said must be properly accounted for.

The committee further questioned N5 billion reportedly spent on changing the company’s name from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to NNPCL. “This, to us in the committee, is unacceptable and satisfactory explanations must be given,” Wadada stated.

In addition, the Auditor-General for the Federation has been directed to conduct a forensic audit of NNPCL’s financial statements for the period in line with Section 85 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

Despite the scrutiny, the committee reaffirmed its support for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration, highlighting the government’s commitment to transparency, accountability, and probity in the management of public funds.