The Senate has summoned former Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Mele Kyari, alongside former Chief Financial Officer Umar Ajia Isa and former NAPIMS boss Bala Wunti, over an alleged N210 trillion that lawmakers say was not properly accounted for in the company’s books between 2017 and 2023. The summons was issued by the Senate Committee on Public Accounts after a review of audit reports covering the period.
Chairman of the committee, Senator Aliyu Wadada, said the former officials would be required to appear before the panel with the current NNPCL management and the external auditors who handled the company’s accounts during the years under review. He also warned that the Senate could resort to arrest warrants if those summoned fail to honour the invitation.
Lawmakers said the disputed figure is made up of N103 trillion and N107 trillion flagged in separate audit concerns. The committee insisted that NNPCL must provide a full explanation for both sums and also answer questions over about N5 billion reportedly spent during the transition from NNPC to NNPCL.
The committee further called for a forensic examination of the company’s audited financial statements and said production costs charged against crude oil revenue during the period should be returned to the treasury if found to be unjustified. The probe marks one of the Senate’s most significant recent moves to scrutinise the financial records of the state oil company.
