Nigerian Senate summons agencies over $3bn loan and audit queries

The Nigerian Senate Public Accounts Committee has summoned the Federal Ministry of Finance, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) to address discrepancies identified in the 2021–2023 Oil and Gas Sector Audit Reports by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI).

During a committee appearance, Finance Ministry Permanent Secretary Raymond Omachi stated that the ministry has been unable to resolve several queries because the NNPCL and NUPRC have not provided the necessary financial records. Key issues under investigation include the recovery of a $3 billion pre-export financing loan used for subsidy payments in 2012, and the handling of $722.6 million in dividends and interest paid by Nigeria LNG Limited to the NNPC in 2021, which NEITI reports were neither remitted to the Federation nor properly accounted for.

Additional queries involve approximately N200 billion spent on Nigerian refineries that were non-operational in 2021, as well as $221.283 million in overhead costs incurred by the National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS) during the same period.