Nigeria’s Senate has summoned former Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mr Mele Kyari, to answer questions over an alleged N210 trillion expenditure recorded by the national oil company between 2017 and 2023, which lawmakers say has not been adequately explained.

The invitation was issued by the Senate Committee on Public Accounts during its latest review of audit reports concerning the state-owned energy firm. The panel also summoned former Chief Financial Officer of the company, Umar Isa, as well as the former Group General Manager of the National Petroleum Investment Management Services, Mr Bala Wunti.

Chairman of the committee, Senator Aliyu Wadada, said the decision followed scrutiny of financial audit reports submitted to the National Assembly, which flagged large sums in the company’s records that auditors said lacked sufficient explanation.

Addressing journalists after the committee’s meeting on Thursday, Mr Wadada disclosed that the lawmakers would soon communicate a specific date for the appearance of the former officials. He warned that failure to honour the summons could lead the committee to issue warrants of arrest against them.

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According to him, the hearing will also involve the current leadership of the NNPCL, including its incumbent Group Chief Executive Officer, Mr Bayo Ojulari. External auditors that reviewed the company’s accounts during the period under investigation are also expected to provide clarifications before the panel.

Wadada explained that the committee’s concerns centre on N210 trillion highlighted in audit reports covering the operations of the national oil company within the six-year period. The amount consists of two separate figures, N103 trillion and N107 trillion, which the committee believes were not satisfactorily accounted for in the firm’s financial records.

He noted that the Senate panel had earlier sent 19 queries to the NNPCL regarding the audit observations in 2025. However, lawmakers said the responses received from the company did not sufficiently address the issues raised.

In its defence, the NNPCL had told the committee that the N103 trillion represented cumulative spending carried out by joint venture partners through cash calls since 2017. The committee, however, rejected the explanation, maintaining that the claim failed to provide a clear breakdown of the transactions.

Lawmakers also questioned another N107 trillion recorded as ‘sundry receivables’ in the company’s audited financial statements as of December 2023. According to the NNPCL, the funds are owed to the company by several financial institutions and other entities.

But the committee insisted that the figures must be clearly reconciled, stressing that when both amounts are combined, the total sum requiring explanation rises to N210 trillion.

Beyond the audit queries, the panel also demanded clarification over the reported N5.9 billion spent to change the organisation’s name from the former Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited following reforms introduced under the Petroleum Industry Act.

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Members of the committee said the amount appeared excessive for a corporate name change and insisted that the management must provide detailed justification for the expenditure.

In a separate resolution, the Senate panel directed the NNPCL to return to the federation’s treasury all production costs that were deducted from crude oil revenue within the period under review. The lawmakers argued that the national oil company and its subsidiaries do not directly engage in crude oil production and therefore should not have charged such costs against government earnings.

The committee further recommended that the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation carry out a comprehensive forensic audit of the company’s financial statements covering the years under review.

According to the lawmakers, the proposed investigation should be conducted in line with Section 85 of the 1999 Constitution to determine the accuracy of the figures and establish whether there were financial irregularities in the operations of the national oil company.