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From Adesuwa Tsan, Abuja
Immediate past Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mele Kyari, yesterday, denied that N210 trillion was missing from the company’s accounts during his tenure, insisting that the disputed amount arose from accounting and bookkeeping entries that had been wrongly interpreted as financial losses.
Kyari, who appeared before the Senate Committee on Public Accounts at the National Assembly, maintained that no money was lost under his leadership, dismissing suggestions that the amount had disappeared from the company’s accounts and insisting that the issues raised in the audit reports were matters of financial reporting rather than missing funds.
He also defended the N2.99 billion spent on the incorporation of NNPCL, explaining that the payment was made to statutory government institutions on behalf of the Federation in accordance with the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), which provided the legal framework for the transformation of the former Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation into a limited liability company.
However, Chairman of the committee, Senator Ibrahim Dankwambo, said the investigation was not over, declaring that the Senate would further interrogate the disputed figures, examine the submissions of former NNPCL officials and seek clarification from the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation before reaching any conclusion.
Addressing the lawmakers, Kyari rejected the interpretation of the N210 trillion figure as missing funds, arguing that the entries in question had been misconstrued in the reports presented to the committee.
“The issue of N210 trillion that is misconstrued in the reports to have been lost, I confirm this moment that nothing is lost.
“It’s simply not possible under my care and under my leadership for that to happen. But it did not happen, and there are actually entry issues, which I know have been clarified. They are all issues of bookkeeping that have nothing to do with any losses,” he said.
Kyari explained that the company’s financial records and accounting processes involved successive management teams and officials, including former chief financial officers who had previously appeared before the committee, stressing that NNPCL remained a going concern whose financial obligations and records could not be considered in isolation.
“I would like to state very frontally that the previous engagements with our team, particularly our former Chief Financial Officers and other officers who came, it’s a continuum, it’s a very continuous, it’s a going concern, the NNPCL.
“I doubt the submissions made by the former Chief Financial Officer in respect of the financial reports that are submitted, and also to be very specific on two issues that may require my specific description, which is in my report,” he said.
On the controversy surrounding the incorporation of NNPCL and allegations of questionable registration fees, the former GCEO maintained that the N2.99 billion payment was legitimate and represented statutory obligations discharged through the relevant government institutions.
According to him, the PIA, which established the framework for incorporating the company, placed responsibility for the exercise on its owners, making the expenditure an obligation of the Federation rather than an arbitrary payment initiated by NNPCL management.
“It is actually a Federation role because the PIA, which this National Assembly passed, has said that the owners of the company should incorporate the company.
“In this case, the owner of the company at that moment, NNPCL, was not necessarily the owner of the company. The NNPCL belongs to the old Federation. It wasn’t so in the past, and at that moment, the Federation must pay for that role for the incorporation.
“The NNPCL, which was not owned by the Federation at that moment in time, paid on behalf of the Federation and then charged it to a Federation’s revenue, which is sitting in what we call the former NAPIMS of NNPCL,” he explained.
Kyari insisted that the payment had been misrepresented in some public accounts, particularly suggestions that billions of dollars were spent merely on naming or registering the company.
“It is about N2.99bn. It’s actually a payment to statutory institutions of government that have that role to do,” he said.
He further explained that the name NNPCL was already provided for under the PIA passed by the National Assembly and that no payment was made to the legislature for naming the company.
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“Actually, this company was named by the National Assembly, so you don’t need to pay any kobo to register that company. The company was named by the National Assembly in appropriate sections of the PIA.
“So there is no such thing. I think it’s a description issue, and we apologise if that wasn’t properly captured by the auditors, but I know that it was really a matter of description,” he added.
Defending his stewardship, Kyari said his administration introduced a transparency and accountability framework when he assumed leadership of the national oil company in 2019, leading to the publication of its financial records for the first time in its 43-year history.
He maintained that the decision exposed the company’s operations to public scrutiny, enabled management to identify weaknesses in its financial and operational processes and contributed to improvements in performance through sustained reforms and cost-saving measures.
According to him, the company’s financial records showed that it recorded a loss of $803 billion in 2018, before he assumed office, but subsequently returned to profitability following reforms undertaken by his administration.
“This company fostered $803 billion loss in 2018. And, of course, I took over in 2019, and we did everything possible until it became a positive company and making sustained profits as a company in these 44 years that it did not do,” he said.
Kyari added that public scrutiny and recommendations arising from the publication of the company’s financial statements helped management identify areas requiring improvement, while his administration implemented major decisions of the Federal Government and the National Assembly affecting the petroleum sector.
These, he said, included the transition towards a market-based petroleum products regime and measures aimed at supporting investment in the oil and gas industry.
The former GCEO also apologised for his failure to honour previous invitations from the committee, attributing his absence to medical and family-related circumstances.
“I sincerely regret that I was unable to be with you during those hearings. It was unavoidable. I was medically indisposed, including some of the family issues associated with the medical situation,” he said.
Responding, Dankwambo said Kyari’s explanations and the submissions of other former NNPCL officials would be subjected to further scrutiny, stressing that the committee had not reached any conclusion on the disputed N210 trillion.
He explained that the investigation concerned two items on the company’s balance sheet which, when viewed from different accounting perspectives, produced the amount under examination.
According to him, the committee had collated the reports and responses submitted by the former executives and would circulate them to members for detailed study before deciding whether additional explanations or further appearances would be required.
“We will circulate the reports to members for study. And if there are further interrogations on these reports or submissions, then we will have cause to invite any one of them or collectively all of them to come and respond to these issues,” Dankwambo said.
He disclosed that the committee would also invite the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation to provide guidance on the accounting issues raised in the audit reports and assist lawmakers in reconciling the disputed figures.
“We will look at the figures. We will interrogate the figures. It is not over. We will sit together. All members will be circulated with the copies of the responses. I will take the investigation going forward,” he declared.
The committee subsequently put the question of discharging Kyari from further appearance to a vote, with members supporting a decision to allow him to leave after his presentation, pending further examination of his responses.
Dankwambo, however, clarified that the decision did not amount to clearing the former NNPCL boss or concluding the investigation, stressing that the committee reserved the right to recall Kyari and other former officials if further examination of their submissions raised additional questions requiring clarification.
