Senate Orders NNPC to Account for ₦210 Trillion, Summons Ex-GCEO Kyari

The Senate has told NNPC to account for ₦210 trillion in spending that nobody has been able to properly explain. Former Group Chief Executive Officer Mele Kyari and two other ex-officials have been summoned to appear before the Senate Committee on Public Accounts.

Committee chairman Senator Aliyu Wadada (Nasarawa West) announced the resolutions on Thursday after months of digging into NNPC’s audited financial statements from 2017 to 2023. The ₦210 trillion breaks down into two chunks: ₦103 trillion in accrued expenses and ₦107 trillion in sundry receivables. Neither has been adequately explained.

₦103 trillion nobody can explain

NNPC’s 2022 audited statements listed ₦103 trillion as accrued expenses, supposedly covering retention fees, legal fees, and audit fees. But when the committee asked for individual figures, there were none attached to any of these items in the statements.

NNPC later said the ₦103 trillion was cumulative expenditure by joint venture partners under the JV cash call arrangement. The committee rejected this, pointing out that the cash call regime was abolished in 2016 and took effect from January 2017.

“This position contradicts the disclosures in the audited financial accounts,” Wadada said. “For that reason, the committee finds this explanation unacceptable.”

₦107 trillion owed by who?

Then there is the ₦107 trillion in sundry receivables recorded as of December 2023. NNPC claimed the money was owed by “some defunct banks and other entities” but could not identify the banks or break down the amounts.

“No bank or amount was named. This lack of transparency is unacceptable,” Wadada said. “By the time you combine both figures, ₦103 trillion and ₦107 trillion, NNPC must account for ₦210 trillion.”

₦5.9 billion to change a name

The committee also raised questions about ₦5.9 billion spent on the transition from NNPC to NNPC Limited. NNPC paid ₦2.9 billion as incorporation expenses from petroleum product proceeds. NAPIMS charged another ₦2.9 billion against crude oil revenue for the same purpose.

“This resulted in a combined total of ₦5.9 billion being spent simply to change the name from NNPC to NNPCL,” Wadada said. “This is unacceptable.”

On top of that, ₦5 trillion was charged as direct production costs between 2017 and 2021 even though neither NNPC nor NAPIMS directly produces crude oil. And ₦3.8 trillion in subsidy deductions appeared to have been duplicated, with costs deducted from crude oil proceeds in NAPIMS books and simultaneously from petroleum product proceeds in NNPC books.

What happens next

The committee has summoned Kyari, former Chief Financial Officer Umar Ajiya Isa, and former NAPIMS Group General Manager Bala Wunti to appear alongside the current management team and external auditors who served during the period. Arrest warrants were threatened for anyone who fails to show up.

The committee wants NNPC to refund the ₦210 trillion, refund all production costs charged against crude oil revenue, and wants the Auditor General for the Federation to conduct a forensic audit of the financial statements from 2017 to 2023 under Section 85 of the Constitution.

The inquiry started in May 2025 after the committee noticed financial lapses in the Auditor General’s reports for 2019 and 2020. Nineteen queries were raised. The responses came back unsatisfactory.

Despite all of this, the committee said it supports the Tinubu administration’s commitment to transparency and accountability in managing public funds.

Sources: Punch, TheCable, Premium Times, Guardian Nigeria, Channels TV, Independent