By Elena Vasquez

Mele Kyari rejected claims that N210 trillion was unaccounted for in the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited’s balance sheet, telling the Senate Committee on Public Accounts on Tuesday that disputed figures in the 2017-2023 audit report reflected accounting entries rather than financial loss.

Kyari, the immediate past group chief executive who led the state oil company from 2019 to 2025, made the denial during testimony before the committee chaired by Senator Ibrahim Dankwabo. He said no financial infraction occurred during his tenure, although the audit report covered a wider 2017-2023 period.

What does Kyari say the N210 trillion represents?

His defense rested on the distinction between an accounting discrepancy and money leaving the company. Kyari told the committee:

“I wish to confirm that nothing was lost. It is simply not possible that such an amount could have been lost under my care and leadership. The matter relates to accounting entries, which have nothing to do with any financial loss. They are bookkeeping issues, and I believe the appropriate explanations have been provided in my report.”

The chief executive did not dispute that the questioned entries appeared in the report; he said they did not constitute a loss. The N210 trillion allegation covers seven audit years from 2017 through 2023. Kyari took charge in 2019, covering the final five audited years, and remained chief through 2025. The committee announced no final audit conclusion on Tuesday.

What did the N5 billion naming claim involve?

Kyari also rejected a separate audit query alleging that NNPC spent N5 billion to change its name from NNPC to NNPCL. He said no such expenditure occurred under his watch.

He then addressed queries on the registration and incorporation of NNPC Ltd. According to Kyari, the federation did not own NNPC in the same manner at incorporation and therefore bore responsibility for the related payment.

NNPC paid that cost on the federation’s behalf and subsequently charged it to federation revenue. Kyari said the transaction appeared in the company’s former NAPIMS account and amounted to approximately N2.99 billion, which went to government institutions responsible for providing relevant services.

For scale, the disputed N5 billion naming claim was about 1.7 times the roughly N2.99 billion incorporation entry, although the two allegations concerned different transactions. Kyari’s explanation therefore placed the N2.99 billion payment within federation revenue rather than presenting it as an unexplained corporate outflow.

What did Kyari claim about NNPCL’s finances?

Before the same committee, Kyari said the company moved from losses to sustained profitability after he became group managing director in 2019. He cited an approximately $803 billion loss in the 2018 operational year and said NNPC then turned profitable under his leadership from 2019 through 2025.

He said the turnaround made the 44-year-old company profitable for the first time in its history and produced sustained profits thereafter. His testimony contrasted the reported $803 billion loss in 2018 with claimed sustained profits across the 2019-2025 leadership period, but the committee had not yet tested those claims.

What happens to the audit findings next?

The committee said it was satisfied with Kyari’s responses and would study them thoroughly before taking a final decision on the audit report. Its chairman said the senators would examine his figures before determining whether to invite him for another hearing.

“We shall interrogate the figures submitted by the former GMD to know whether to Invite him again or not. For now, he has responded to the two issues relating to his leadership of NNPC during the period under review.”

The statement left the two issues Kyari addressed—the disputed N210 trillion entries and the N5 billion naming claim—open to further scrutiny. The hearing did not resolve the 2017-2023 audit dispute.

Kyari’s rejection now moves the N210 trillion allegation into a verification phase: senators must test his accounting explanation before issuing a final finding.