The Senate has summoned the immediate past Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mele Kyari, alongside the company’s former Chief Financial Officer, Umar Isa, and a former Group General Manager of the National Petroleum Investment Management Services, Bala Wunti, over an alleged N210 trillion expenditure said to have been incurred by the national oil firm between 2017 and 2023 without proper accountability.
The Senate committee probing the matter warned that it could issue arrest warrants against the former officials if they fail to appear before the panel on a date that will be communicated to them.
Lawmakers also raised concerns over an alleged N5 billion spent by the oil company to change its name from the defunct Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPCL) to the NNPCL.
The resolutions were announced on Thursday by the Chairman of the committee, Senator Aliyu Ahmed, who represents Nasarawa West Senatorial District.
Sen. Wadada said, the former management team must appear before the committee together with the current chief executive of the NNPCL, Bayo Ojulari, as well as external auditors who worked with the company during the period under investigation.
“The 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,” Sen. Wadada said.
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He added that the committee also directed the oil firm to remit to the national treasury all production costs charged against crude oil revenues during the period under review.
The senator further disclosed that the committee had mandated the office of the auditor-general for the federation to conduct a forensic audit of the company’s financial statements in line with Section 85 of the 1999 Constitution.
Sen. Wadada explained that the panel arrived at its decision after the national oil company failed to provide satisfactory responses to 19 queries raised by lawmakers from its audited financial statements.
He stated that NNPCL claimed that the N103 trillion represented cumulative spending by joint venture partners through cash calls from 2017, a response the committee described as unacceptable.
He also said the company recorded N107 trillion as “sundry receivables” in its audited financial statement as of December 2023, including subsidy-related claims allegedly owed by banks and other entities.
“When put together, NNPCL needs to properly account for N210 trillion,” he said.
The committee also questioned the rationale behind the reported N5 billion spent on rebranding the national oil company, describing the expenditure as unacceptable and demanding detailed explanations.
