Key points
- The Senate Committee on Public Accounts threatened an arrest warrant against former NNPC GCEO Mele Kyari to compel his appearance.
- The investigation targets an alleged ₦210 trillion audit discrepancy flagged by the Auditor-General between 2017 and 2023.
- Former NNPC Chief Financial Officer Umar Ajiya disputed the discrepancy, stating total revenue for the period was only ₦54.5 trillion.
- Lawmakers rejected a proposal for a closed-door session, demanding Kyari return to Nigeria immediately to address the probe.
- Kyari was removed from his position by President Bola Tinubu in April 2025 following several corruption-related petitions.
Main Story
The Senate Committee on Public Accounts has threatened to issue an arrest warrant against Mele Kyari, the former Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd), to compel his appearance before lawmakers.
The legislative ultimatum follows Kyari’s failure to honor multiple invitations to explain an alleged ₦210 trillion discrepancy highlighted in official reports submitted by the Auditor-General of the Federation, which spans operations from 2017 through 2023.
The legislative standoff escalated on Wednesday during a committee hearing at the National Assembly, presided over by the committee chairman and former Gombe State Governor, Ibrahim Dankwambo. Kyari was removed from office by President Bola Tinubu in April 2025 following a series of corruption-related petitions. The controversy regarding the ₦210 trillion audit gap originally intensified in June 2025 when the audited financial records of the national oil firm drew intense public scrutiny.
At the time, the state-backed oil company, which is currently led by Bayo Ojulari, failed to meet an initial seven-day explanation deadline because its executive team was attending a management retreat. NNPC Ltd later sent a written brief in November 2025, claiming ₦103 trillion represented accrued expenses while ₦107 trillion comprised receivables. However, the committee, then chaired by Aliyu Wadada rejected the breakdown and demanded an in-person defense, a tracking query that Dankwambo inherited upon taking over the panel.
During the tense session, lawmakers voiced deep frustration over Kyari’s continued absence from the country. Senator Victor Umeh of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) criticized the former energy boss for remaining abroad for over a year despite the ongoing probe, labeling the situation a national emergency and demanding Kyari cut short his trip to return home.
While Senator Tony Nwoye disclosed that Kyari claimed to be undergoing medical treatment in Germany, other lawmakers fiercely rejected a motion by Senator Babangida Hussaini to move the deliberation behind closed doors. Senator Adams Oshiomhole strongly pressured the panel to utilize its statutory powers to force compliance, asserting that public officials must remain accountable to the state.
Defending the state firm’s past financial administration, former NNPC Chief Financial Officer Umar Ajiya appeared before the panel to completely dispute the multi-trillion naira discrepancy. Ajiya called the ₦210 trillion figure a profound public misconception, pointing out that the entire revenue generated by the NNPC during the evaluated period stood at approximately ₦54.5 trillion, making the missing sum mathematically impossible.
He advised that if lingering transparency concerns persist, independent anti-corruption institutions like the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) should run a definitive forensic audit. Ajiya warned that repeating unverified missing money allegations severely degrades the international credit ratings of Nigeria and damages investor confidence, recalling a past incident where a similar unpatriotic petition caused Chinese lenders to freeze a critical $2.5 billion sovereign-backed infrastructure loan.
The Issues
- Enforcing legislative oversight and compelling high-profile former state executives to return to Nigeria to face formal public accountability probes.
- Reconciling the massive mathematical gap between the Auditor-General’s ₦210 trillion flagged discrepancy and the NNPC’s documented ₦54.5 trillion total revenue pool.
- Mitigating the adverse impact of public corruption allegations on Nigeria’s international credit ratings and foreign direct investments.
What’s Being Said
- Expressing frustration over the prolonged scheduling delays, Anambra Central Senator Victor Umeh remarked: “This matter has been on for sometime. We have been expecting Mr Mele Kyari to appear before us for one year or more and for us to receive information that he’s abroad. It shows that he’s not taking us seriously. We cannot wait for him to appear before us at his convenience. It’s a national emergency. Mele Kyari should cut short his trip anywhere in the world and return home and come before this committee to answer the questions,”.
- Urging the committee to project its full constitutional authority, Edo North Senator Adams Oshiomhole argued: “There are some people seeing themselves as bigger than Nigeria. This committee must have the courage and the will to deploy its powers and issue a warrant to bring Mele Kyrai even though he’s dead, we want to see his body and he’ll account,”.
- Challenging the baseline logic of the audit findings, former NNPC Chief Financial Officer Umar Ajiya argued: “N210 trillion is big money gentlemen. The reality is that the whole revenue earned in the period under review…… For the whole NNPC assuming no kobo was spent to produce the oil was N54.5 trillion, so how can N210 trillion be missing,”.
- Lamenting the reputational fallout of the public inquiry, Ajiya added: “The danger of this is that we are not only damaging the character of individuals and the company itself, even Nigeria. Remember what we dish out to the public is what the ranging agencies will use to rate Nigeria,”.
What’s Next
- The Senate Committee on Public Accounts will determine whether to formally sign and execute the arrest warrant for Mele Kyari through law enforcement agencies.
- Lawmakers may formalize requests to the EFCC and NFIU to review the financial logs and assess the need for a forensic audit of the NNPC’s 2017–2023 accounts.
- The current NNPC leadership under Bayo Ojulari may be recalled by the Senate to provide additional structural accounting data regarding the asset registries.
Bottom Line
The Senate Public Accounts Committee has pushed the investigation into a historic ₦210 trillion audit discrepancy to a critical tipping point by threatening an arrest warrant for former NNPC head Mele Kyari, despite intense pushback from former financial executives who maintain the entire revenue of the firm was a fraction of that sum.
