Mele Kyari, the former Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of Nigerian National Petroleum business Limited (NPCL), Umar Ajia Isa, the Chief Financial Officer, and Dr. Bala Wunti were called before the Senate on Thursday about N210 trillion that the business failed to account for between 2017 and 2023.
The Red Chamber questioned why the National Oil Company spent an astounding N5 billion on changing its name from NNPC to NNPCL, among other things, and threatened to issue an arrest warrant against the summoned former management team of NNPCL if they did not show up on a date that would be sent to them shortly.
During its Public Accounts meeting on Thursday, the Senate passed these resolutions regarding the summons of the NNPCL’s immediate past top management team.
While briefing Senate Correspondents, the committee’s chairman, Senator Aliyu Wadada Ahmed (Nasarawa West), read out the resolutions and clarified that the current GCEO, Engineer Bayo Ojulari, shall lead the summon on the former NNPCL management team.
Senator Wadada declared the resolutions one after the other as follows:
The whole amount of N210 trillion, which is the sum of N103 trillion and N107 trillion that were improperly accounted for as stated in the audit reports, should be reimbursed by NNPCL.
Since the NNPC and its subsidiaries, NAPIMS, and co., do not directly produce crude oil, the committee’s second resolution calls on the NNPCL to reform to treasury all production expenses incurred against crude oil revenue for the period under review.
“3. The immediate past management of NNPCL and NAPIMS, including Mele Kyari as the then-GCEO, Umar Ajia Isa as the then-CFO, and Bala Wunti as the then-GGM, NAPIMS, should and must appear before the committee and be led by the current management with the entire body of external auditors who served during the period under review.”
Fourth, in accordance with section 85 of the Federal Republic of Nigeria’s 1999 amended constitution, the Auditor General for the Federation should conduct a forensic audit examination of the audited financial accounts of NNPCL for the period under review.
He continued by saying that the committee, according to the audit report, was perplexed as to why NNPC had to spend an astounding N5 billion on changing its name to NNPCL. This is unacceptable to the committee, and adequate justifications must be provided,” he stated.
He claims that NNPCL’s incapacity to provide adequate responses to the 19 issues asked to it from the audit report led the committee to develop the resolutions.
In response to our inquiries, NNPCL stated that the N103 trillion reflected the total amount spent by NNPCL Joint Venture Partners from JV Cash Calls in 2017. This reaction is therefore unacceptable, and N103 trillion is still hanging over NNPC.
“The audited financial account of NNPCL showed that the subsidy receivables were N107 trillion. NNPCL says that some of the N107 trillion in assorted receivables it had as of December 2023 were owing by various banks and other organizations.
NNPCL must appropriately account for N210 trillion when combined, he clarified.
However, the committee reaffirmed its legislative support for the federal government led by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, which it claims is making every effort to guarantee accountability, openness, and probity in the administration of public funds.
Hon. Dr. Philip “Okanga” Agbese, a transformative leader in Enone. Discover his achievements, community projects, and vision for 2027
