The Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) and more than 75 civil society organisations under the Coalition of National Civil Society Organisations (CNCSOs) have called for the probe of the finances of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) during the tenure of its former Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari.
The groups also expressed doubts about the ability of the National Assembly to ensure meaningful accountability through its ongoing investigation into an alleged N210 trillion accounting discrepancy in the records of the national oil company.
In a joint statement signed by the CNPP Deputy National Publicity Secretary, James Ezema, and the CNCSOs National Secretary, Ali Abacha, the organisations argued that legislative probes in Nigeria have historically yielded little in terms of prosecution or punishment for officials implicated in corruption.
The statement was issued in response to the ongoing Senate investigation into financial discrepancies linked to the operations of the NNPCL, particularly during the period Kyari headed the organisation.
According to the groups, parliamentary investigations since Nigeria’s return to democratic rule in 1999 have often generated public attention but rarely resulted in criminal prosecution or convictions.
They said Nigerians had become familiar with what they described as a recurring pattern in corruption investigations in which public scandals trigger legislative hearings, officials are summoned, reports are promised and the issue gradually fades from public attention without consequences.
The organisations noted that the Senate’s probe into the NNPCL accounts had once again brought concerns about transparency and accountability in Nigeria’s petroleum sector to the forefront of national discourse.
While acknowledging the Senate’s decision to summon former officials of the company to explain the controversial figures, they warned that the investigation must not follow what they described as a familiar trajectory of inconclusive probes.
“For more than two decades, Nigerians have witnessed countless legislative probes that ended without prosecution, conviction or imprisonment of those responsible for corruption uncovered during the hearings,” the statement said.
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The coalition said it had repeatedly raised concerns during the tenure of the former NNPCL management led by Kyari, citing alleged opaque accounting practices and questionable financial disclosures relating to subsidy payments, crude oil transactions and operational expenditures.
The groups also revisited the long-standing controversy surrounding the rehabilitation of Nigeria’s state-owned refineries, particularly the Port Harcourt Refinery.
According to them, billions of dollars were reportedly spent on the rehabilitation of the refineries, yet the expected improvement in domestic refining capacity has not been achieved.
They argued that repeated announcements by officials of the national oil company suggesting that the refineries had been successfully rehabilitated were later contradicted when the facilities failed to function as expected.
