The Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation has uncovered N30.1bn, $51.6m, £14.3m, and €5.17m in red-flagged transactions linked to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), raising fresh concerns over systemic weaknesses in the country’s most strategic corporation.
Converted to naira, the questionable transactions total approximately N61.1bn.
The findings—spanning undocumented expenditures, irregular contract variations, abandoned projects, unremitted surpluses, and weak internal controls—were contained in Volume II of the Auditor-General’s 2022 Non-Compliance Report.
Key revelations include:
- £14.3m spent by NNPCL’s London Office without supporting documentation.
- $22.8m in unverified Direct Sales Direct Payment settlements.
- $1.8m paid under an irregular vessel substitution.
- N12.7bn unremitted to NNPCL’s General Reserve Fund.
- N3.4bn authorised without CEO approval.
- N2.37bn paid as status-car cash options without due process.
The audit queries—28 in total—highlight what it described as “persistent patterns of unsubstantiated payments, procurement breaches, and poor internal oversight.”
The report directs NNPCL’s Group CEO to appear before the Public Accounts Committees of the National Assembly and mandates recovery of all unsupported funds.
Civil society groups say the findings confirm long-running concerns about opacity in the petroleum sector.