Finance Ministry Accuses NNPCL of Financial Non-Cooperation

On Thursday, the Federal Ministry of Finance accused the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) of not providing necessary financial records to address queries raised in the 2021 to 2023 Oil and Gas Sector Audit report by the Nigeria Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI). The Permanent Secretary, Mr. Raymond Omachi, made this statement during an interrogation by the Senate Committee on Public Accounts regarding several financial infractions highlighted in the NEITI audit.

Notable infractions included a $3 billion pre-export financing loan taken in 2012 and a $722.6 million payment to NNPC by Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) that was not remitted to the Federation. The Ministry could not explain the operational status of refineries despite N200 billion spent on them or $221.283 million in overhead costs incurred by NAPIMS in 2021.

Omachi stated that the Ministry was not directly involved in the transactions and called for cooperation from NNPCL and NUPRC. The Senate Committee, chaired by Senator Ibrahim Hassan Dankwabo, urged the Permanent Secretary to arrange a meeting with the affected agencies to resolve these issues.