The Senate Committee on Public Accounts has summoned the immediate past Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mele Kyari, alongside former Chief Financial Officer Umar Ajia Isa and former Group General Manager of the National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS), Dr. Bala Wunti, over ₦210 trillion flagged in audit reports as not properly accounted for between 2017 and 2023.

The summons was issued by the Senate Committee on Public Accounts after reviewing audit reports concerning the financial records of the national oil company.

The committee, chaired by Senator Aliyu Wadada (Nasarawa West), said the officials are required to appear before the panel to respond to issues raised in the audit findings.

According to the committee, the amount under review consists of two figures identified in the audit reports.

Lawmakers stated that ₦103 trillion and ₦107 trillion recorded in the financial statements were not satisfactorily explained by the company during earlier engagements with the committee.

Senator Wadada said the former NNPCL management team must appear before the committee together with the current management led by the Group Chief Executive Officer, Bayo Ojulari, and the external auditors who served the company during the period under review.

He added that the committee may issue a warrant of arrest if the summoned officials fail to appear before it on a date to be communicated to them.

The committee also directed the NNPCL to account for the combined sum of ₦210 trillion identified in the audit reports.

Reading the resolutions of the panel, Wadada said:
“NNPCL should refund the sum of ₦210 trillion, being the combined sum of ₦103 trillion and ₦107 trillion, which were not properly accounted for as contained in the audit reports.

NNPCL should and must account for the two figures.”

The committee further questioned the expenditure of ₦5 billion reportedly used for the change of the company’s name from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.

The Senate also directed the Auditor-General for the Federation to conduct a forensic audit of the NNPCL’s financial statements covering the period under review in line with Section 85 of the 1999 Constitution.

Lawmakers stated that the investigation forms part of the National Assembly’s oversight responsibility to ensure accountability and transparency in the management of public resources, particularly in the oil and gas sector.