Stakeholders Seek Accountability Over NNPCL’s Alleged N210 Trillion Shortfall

The Senate’s decision to reverse an order of its committee demanding the arrest of former Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mele Kyari, may be procedurally right, but it is capable of sending a wrong signal regarding transparency and accountability in the management of public funds. Kyari, who failed to honour several invitations to appear before the Senate Committee on Public Accounts to explain why and how N210 trillion was not accounted for in the company’s audit report covering 2017 to 2023, was ordered arrested by the Senate Committee on Public Accounts. But the Senate said such an order was beyond the committee’s power. Nevertheless, it is important that the matter is not closed at that level, in the interests of the public and for the integrity of the legislature.

Senator Adams Oshiomhole, who has commented publicly in support of the action of the committee was right to remind Nigerians that asking for accountability for public funds was not an act of hostility to the government. Indeed, accountability, transparency and probity are the very essence of democratic governance. Democracies succeed not by ducking tough questions, but when institutions have the courage and independence to pose them.

The controversy around the NNPCL was not a product of partisan politics or media speculation. It emanated from reports of the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation between 2017 and 2023, when the national oil company was led by Mele Kyari. The reports reportedly contained 19 audit queries on transactions and accounting entries totaling more than N210 trillion. The figures themselves were taken from NNPCL’s own audited financial statements prepared by internationally recognised auditors.

Confronted with these observations that the funds were not accounted for, the Senate Committee on Public Accounts undertook what should be seen as a routine constitutional exercise. It demanded explanations of the corporation. According to the NNPCL, N103 trillion was accrued expenses and N107 trillion was receivables.

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The missing funds are cash calls requested by joint venture (JV) partners and settlements to the JVs, said the company’s chief financial officer, Adedapo Segun. He spoke at a session of the Senate Committee on Public Accounts, chaired by Aliyu Wadada, after the committee raised alarm over the money. According to Segun: “The N103 trillion and N107 trillion constitute joint venture cash calls that have been requested by the JV operators and JV cash call payments made by NNPCL, which are yet to be reconciled because governance procedures were not done at that time…That is why you see the description showing the two items would be washed out because it is two sides of the same transaction which is the cash calls by JV partners and the settlement by NNPCL.”

But unhappy with the written explanations, the committee called for oral testimony from current and former officials. Such insistence was neither excessive nor vindictive. No interrogation, no oversight. N0 one has alleged, let alone established, that N210 trillion was stolen. Kyari has never been convicted of any wrong-doing by any court. No forensic audit has found any public funds missing. But these realities do not lessen the obligation to explain. The truth is, innocence is best proved by openness, not by silence.

It’s therefore disturbing that after the committee reportedly sat nine times without Kyari’s appearance and finally ordered his arrest to force attendance, the Senate itself suddenly reversed course. Just 48 hours after, the upper chamber publicly dissociated itself from the committee, rebuked Oshiomhole and stopped the arrest process. Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele said the committee had no power to issue a warrant and warned against going against due process.
Due process is essential. No democratic institution should be outside the law. But procedural concerns should not be a convenient refuge for institutional retreat. The question is not whether the committee adopted the right legal mechanism; the question is whether the Senate itself has the will to pursue a case involving the management of resources on which the lives and welfare of millions of Nigerians depend, or whether the Senate is painting a picture of itself as unwilling to seek clarification in huge public spending shrouded in haze. Or is the Senate content with the meager explanation given by NNPCL on the funds?

The reversal raises troubling questions. Why would the Senate suddenly look reluctant to pursue an investigation that arose from constitutional audit reports? Why should the matter of such monumental public importance be caught up in internal legislative politics? Why should the National Assembly, which the Constitution has empowered to undertake the sacred task of oversight, seem to back down in the face of the resistance of those it is constitutionally empowered to scrutinise?

It is unfortunate that that impression is being created. It demonstrates inconsistency in the time when firmness is needed. It stokes concerns that politics are winning out over accountability. Such perceptions are dangerous in a country where public confidence in institutions has already been badly eroded.

The Senate must realize that its credibility is on trial no less than that of the NNPCL. Nigerians deserve answers not confusion. The constitutional scheme is clear. Government agencies and public corporations are mandated to render accounts to the Auditor-General who reports to the National Assembly. It is not optional for legislation to be subject to scrutiny; it is a constitutional imperative. Where explanations are found by auditors to be unsatisfactory, parliament has a duty to seek clarification.

The Human Rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, has now gone to the Federal High Court to demand that the Senate should reveal the report concerning the alleged discrepancies. His action is a response to increasing public demand for transparency. In terms of public resources, secrecy creates suspicion; openness creates trust.

Kyari should face the Senate and respond to the questions raised from the audit observations. If other mechanisms must be used to ensure his appearance, the Senate should use them. What it must not do is frustrate or abandon the investigation. You can’t shit on nine invitations and expect there to be no consequences. No public officer, present or past, should be permitted to put himself above institutions established by the Constitution.

This is not a question of personalities. It is bigger than Kyari, bigger than Oshiomhole and even bigger than the Tinubu administration. It is about whether Nigeria’s democratic institutions have the will to hold those in power to account. If a legislature turns away from its responsibility to oversee, it weakens democracy itself.

Transparency and responsible management of public resources are still essential for national development. We cannot allow the Senate to be an obstacle to those ideals. It must not let constitutional oversight become a charade. It won’t blink.

The inquiry should be continued. The questions are to be answered. And if there is an eventual finding of wrongdoing, those responsible must be held accountable to the consequences of the law. To do otherwise would be to perpetuate the cynical belief that in Nigeria, accountability is pursued vigorously only until powerful interests become uncomfortable. That would be a tragedy not just for the Senate, but for democracy itself.