The Senate Committee on Public Accounts has summoned the immediate past management of Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), including its former Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari, over alleged financial discrepancies amounting to N210 trillion in the company’s audited financial statements from 2017 to 2023.
The development was disclosed by the chairman of the committee, Aliyu Wadada, during a press briefing at the National Assembly complex on Thursday.
According to the senator, the legislative inquiry was initiated to ensure accountability and transparency in the management of public funds within the national oil company.
What the committee is saying
The Senate committee said the investigation is being conducted under its constitutional oversight powers to examine the income and expenditure of government agencies.
- “The Senate Public Accounts Committee, in the exercise of its constitutional mandate to ensure accountability, transparency, and value for money in the management of public accounts of the federation, embarked on a status inquiry into the income and expenditure of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited,” Wadada said.
- “The legislative inquiry exercise originated from the committee’s observed financial management lapses during the consideration of the auditor-general for the federation’s annual reports.”
- “NNPCL should refund the sum of N210 trillion, being the combined figures of N103 trillion and N107 trillion, which were not properly explained to the committee.”
Wadada added that the figures cannot be netted off under standard accounting principles and therefore require proper explanation or reconciliation.
More Insights
The committee said it began the inquiry in May 2025 after identifying financial management lapses while reviewing reports from the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation for the years ending 2019 and 2020.
- The panel reviewed NNPCL’s audited financial statements from 2017 to 2023 and also examined records from National Petroleum Investment Management Services, now known as NNPCL Upstream Investment Limited.
- Lawmakers said they identified N103 trillion recorded as accrued expenses in the company’s 2022 financial statements, covering items such as retention fees, legal fees, and audit fees without specific breakdowns.
- The committee also observed N107 trillion listed as sundry receivables as of December 2023, which the company said were owed by some defunct banks and other entities, but without clear identification of the debtors.
Additionally, the panel raised concerns over an alleged duplication of N3.8 trillion in subsidy deductions recorded both in crude oil proceeds and petroleum product revenues.
The committee said explanations provided by the company on these issues were not satisfactory.
The Senate committee also flagged other financial transactions in the company’s records that it described as questionable.
NNPCL and NAPIMS reportedly charged about N5 trillion as direct production costs between 2017 and 2021, despite the entities not directly producing crude oil.
Lawmakers also queried N5.9 billion spent as incorporation expenses during the transition from NNPC to NNPCL.
The committee directed that all production costs charged against crude oil revenue during the period be refunded to the federation.
It also recommended that the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation conduct a forensic audit of the company’s financial statements covering 2017 to 2023.
What you should know
The Senate Committee on Public Accounts had earlier ordered NNPCL’s Group CEO, Bayo Ojulari, to appear on July 10 to respond to audit queries over a reported N210 trillion unaccounted for between 2017 and 2023, as reported by Nairametrics.
The directive, issued at a June 26 session, came with a warning that failure to appear could result in an arrest warrant.
Following Ojulari’s absence on the scheduled date, the committee reaffirmed its demand, stressing that he must appear before it to address the financial infractions raised in the audit report.
