A recent audit by the Auditor-General’s office has revealed over ₦60 billion linked to 28 financial irregularities in the operations of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd), exposing systemic lapses in governance, compliance, and internal controls.
According to the Auditor-General’s 2022 Annual Report on Non-Compliance (Volume II), the questionable transactions included undocumented payments totaling ₦30.1 billion, $51.6 million, £14.3 million, and €5.17 million — approximately ₦61.1 billion when converted to naira. The report has been submitted to the National Assembly for further review.
The audit flagged a range of violations, including unauthorised virements, tax infractions, irregular procurement, abandoned projects, weak internal controls, and unsubstantiated settlements. “Where documentation was absent, payments were unjustified; where approvals were missing, expenditures breached the law. Recovery and sanctions must follow,” the report stated.
A review of past years shows a persistent pattern of financial mismanagement: ₦1.33 trillion in 2017, ₦681.02 billion in 2019, ₦151.12 billion and $19.77 million in 2020, and ₦514 billion in 2021, highlighting long-standing issues with unremitted funds and unsupported transfers.
One of the most striking findings concerns NNPC’s London Office, where £14,322,426.59 was spent in 2021 without adequate documentation. Personnel costs, fixed contracts, and operational expenses could not be verified by auditors due to missing records, exposing the office to potential misuse of public funds. The Auditor-General recommended the Group CEO appear before the Public Accounts Committees of the National Assembly to account for the funds and directed recovery to the Treasury, warning that sanctions must follow if the office fails to comply.
Domestic transactions were similarly problematic. The audit highlighted unauthorized payments, non-remittance of statutory surpluses, and budgetary breaches. Notable examples include:
₦12.721 billion unremitted to the General Reserve Fund
₦3.445 billion paid without the Managing Director’s approval
₦2.379 billion irregularly paid as staff status-car options
₦1.212 billion paid to contractors without supporting invoices
₦355.43 million in demurrage and abandoned refinery payments
Foreign currency transactions also raised red flags, with unsubstantiated dollar settlements amounting to over $51.6 million, including payments for delayed projects, irregular contract extensions, and provisional payments without invoices.
Procurement irregularities were also highlighted. Auditors flagged $1.926 million in inflated contract variations, irregular vessel substitutions, and emergency procurements carried out without justification, indicating systemic circumvention of NNPC’s procurement rules.
The Auditor-General’s office concluded that the breaches reflect deep-rooted weaknesses in NNPC Ltd’s internal control system, exposing public funds to unnecessary risk. It recommended the immediate recovery of all unsupported payments, remittance of withheld statutory surpluses, and sanctions against responsible officers.
The report emphasized: “Where officers fail to provide required documents, the sums shall be recovered from them directly. The integrity of public finance must be safeguarded.”
This latest audit underscores the ongoing challenge of transparency and accountability in Nigeria’s petroleum sector, reinforcing the need for stronger oversight and enforcement of financial regulations.
