The immediate past Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Mele Kyari, on Tuesday denied allegations that N210tn was unaccounted for in the company\u2019s financial records, insisting that the discrepancies identified in its 2017\u20132023 audit reports were accounting entries and not evidence of missing funds.\n<\/p>\n
Kyari, who appeared before the Senate Committee on Public Accounts, said no money was lost under his leadership of the national oil company between 2019 and 2025.\n<\/p>\n
He explained that the figures flagged by auditors resulted from bookkeeping issues that had been misunderstood as financial infractions, adding that the relevant explanations had been provided in his written response to the committee.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI wish to confirm that nothing was lost. It is simply not possible that such an amount could have been lost under my care and leadership. The matter relates to accounting entries, which have nothing to do with any financial loss.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are bookkeeping issues, and I believe the appropriate explanations have been provided in my report,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n
The former NNPCL boss also dismissed allegations that N5bn was spent on changing the name of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to NNPC Limited following the enactment of the Petroleum Industry Act, 2021.\n<\/p>\n
He equally addressed audit queries concerning the registration and incorporation of NNPC Limited, explaining that the payment for the process was initially made by the company on behalf of the Federation and subsequently charged to the government\u2019s revenue account.<\/p>\n
He said, \u201cAt the time of incorporation, the company was not owned by the Federation in the same manner. The Federation was therefore responsible for the payment relating to the incorporation of NNPC.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, NNPC made the payment on behalf of the Federation and subsequently charged it to the Federation\u2019s revenue, which was reflected in what we referred to as the former NAPIMS account of NNPC.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was simply an accounting entry, involving approximately N2.99bn. It was a payment made to government institutions responsible for providing the relevant services. I have also seen comments suggesting that N5 billion was paid for the naming of the company. That is incorrect.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Kyari also defended his management of the national oil company, claiming that his administration transformed it from a loss-making organisation into a profitable enterprise.\n<\/p>\n
He told the committee, chaired by Senator Ibrahim Dankwambo, representing Gombe North, that the company recorded a loss of about $803bn in 2018, before he assumed office as Group Managing Director in 2019.\n<\/p>\n
According to him, efforts to restructure its operations subsequently resulted in sustained profits for the first time in the company\u2019s 44-year history.\n<\/p>\n
He said, \u201cMr Chairman, you may be aware from the financial records that the company recorded a loss of about $803billion in 2018.<\/p>\n
\u201cI took over in 2019, and we did everything possible to transform the company into a profitable organisation, which made it, for the first time in its 44 years of existence, record sustained profits\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Responding to Kyari\u2019s submissions, Dankwambo said the committee would examine the explanations and supporting documents before deciding whether to invite him again.\n<\/p>\n
He said, \u201cWe shall interrogate the figures submitted by the former GMD to know whether to invite him again. For now, he has responded to the two issues relating to his leadership of NNPC during the period under review.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Kyari\u2019s appearance followed months of controversy over the Senate\u2019s investigation into audit queries involving the NNPC\u2019s financial records between 2017 and 2023, reportedly involving more than N210tn.\n<\/p>\n
The queries were forwarded to the committee by the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation and covered unresolved financial entries and discrepancies in the national oil company\u2019s accounts.\n<\/p>\n
The committee had earlier threatened to invoke its constitutional powers to compel Kyari\u2019s appearance after he allegedly failed to honour several invitations.\n<\/p>\n
The demand followed a motion by Senator Victor Umeh, representing Anambra Central, amid growing frustration among lawmakers over the former NNPCL chief\u2019s absence.<\/p>\n
Senator Adams Oshiomhole had particularly insisted that Kyari must personally account for his stewardship, urging the committee to issue an arrest warrant to compel his appearance.\n<\/p>\n
However, the Senate subsequently clarified that no committee had the authority to issue, authorise or execute an arrest warrant except in accordance with the Legislative Houses (Powers and Privileges) Act and with the express approval of the Senate President.\n<\/p>\n
The Senate also distanced itself from Oshiomhole\u2019s description of the NNPCL as \u201ca bunch of criminals and thieves,\u201d saying the remarks did not represent the position of the Red Chamber.\n<\/p>\n
The committee\u2019s investigation is expected to establish whether the explanations provided by Kyari adequately address the outstanding audit queries and discrepancies in the company\u2019s financial records.\n <\/p>\n
Source: <\/p>\n
The immediate past Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Mele Kyari, on Tuesday denied allegations that N210tn was unaccounted for in the company\u2019s financial records,… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14404,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14403\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}