No ₦210tn Missing from NNPC Accounts, Former GCEO Mele Kyari Tells Senate

Former Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd), Mele Kyari, has denied allegations that ₦210tn was missing from the company’s financial records, insisting that the disputed figures were accounting discrepancies rather than evidence of financial misconduct.

Kyari made the clarification on Tuesday while appearing before the Senate Committee on Public Accounts, where he maintained that no funds were lost under his leadership between 2019 and 2025.

He explained that the figures identified in the company’s 2017–2023 audit reports resulted from bookkeeping entries that had been misunderstood as financial infractions.

The former NNPC boss also dismissed reports that ₦5bn was spent on changing the company’s name from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to NNPC Limited following the Petroleum Industry Act of 2021.

Addressing another audit query, Kyari explained that approximately ₦2.99bn spent on incorporating NNPC Limited was initially paid by the company on behalf of the Federation and subsequently charged to the government’s revenue account.

Defending his record, Kyari claimed that he inherited a loss-making organisation and introduced reforms that transformed the company into a profitable enterprise, recording sustained profits for the first time in its 44-year history.

However, Senate Committee Chairman Ibrahim Dankwambo said lawmakers would examine Kyari’s explanations and supporting documents before deciding whether to invite him for further questioning.

The investigation followed audit queries raised by the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation over unresolved financial entries and discrepancies in NNPC’s accounts between 2017 and 2023, involving more than ₦210tn.