Nigeria’s Senate has summoned the immediate past Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Mele Kyari, over an alleged 210 trillion naira ($130 billion) expenditure by the state oil company between 2017 and 2023 that lawmakers say has not been properly accounted for.
Also invited are the former Chief Financial Officer, Umar Isa, and the former Group General Manager of the National Petroleum Investment Management Services, Bala Wunti.
The Senate committee handling the probe warned it could issue arrest warrants if the former officials fail to appear before it on a date to be communicated.
Speaking to journalists Thursday, the chairman of the committee, Sen. Aliyu Wadada, said the summoned former management team must appear alongside the current Group Chief Executive Officer, Bayo Ojulari.
Wadada said the company must account for the combined 210 trillion naira cited 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,” he said. “The NNPCL should and must account for the two figures.”
According to Wadada, the committee also resolved that the company should remit to the national treasury all production costs charged against crude oil revenue for the period under review, noting that NNPCL and its subsidiaries, including NAPIMS, do not directly produce crude oil.
The committee further directed the Auditor General for the Federation to conduct a forensic audit review of the company’s financial statements for the period under review in line with Section 85 of the 1999 Constitution.
Lawmakers also questioned an alleged 5 billion naira expenditure on the company’s rebranding from the defunct Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.
Wadada described the amount as unacceptable and said the company must provide satisfactory explanations.
He said the committee reached the resolutions after the company failed to provide adequate responses to 19 questions raised by lawmakers based on audit findings.
According to him, the company claimed that 103 trillion naira represented cumulative expenditures by joint venture partners through cash calls since 2017, but the committee rejected the explanation, saying the figure remains unresolved.
He added that the company also recorded 107 trillion naira in subsidy-related receivables as of December 2023, listed as sundry receivables allegedly owed by various banks and entities.
Despite the concerns, the committee said it remains supportive of President Bola Tinubu’s administration and its commitment to transparency, accountability and proper management of public funds.
