N431BN PETROLEUM DEBT RAISES FRESH CONCERNS OVER REVENUE RECOVERY

The Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation has uncovered more than N431bn in outstanding petroleum-sector obligations owed to the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority by oil marketers. The finding was contained in the Auditor-General’s 2024 Annual Report on Non-Compliance and Internal Control Weaknesses in Ministries, Departments and Agencies, which raised concerns over the failure to recover and remit significant government revenue.

The report identified N431.01bn as accumulated debts linked to National Transport Average obligations, bridging allowances and other legacy liabilities. The Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria accounted for about N315.18bn, comprising N132.56bn in bridging allowance debt and N182.62bn in National Transport Average obligations. Another N106.30bn was attributed to the Major Energy Marketers Association of Nigeria, while N9.53bn represented legacy debt associated with unissued promissory notes by the Federal Ministry of Finance.

Auditors said the debt had remained substantially unresolved years after it was incurred. They noted that as of August 2025, there was no evidence that the outstanding amount had been recovered or that the situation had materially changed. The Auditor-General attributed the situation partly to weaknesses in the NMDPRA’s internal control system and warned that continued failure to recover the money could expose public funds to possible loss or diversion.

The NMDPRA acknowledged the outstanding amount but described the N431.01bn as a legacy receivable owed by marketers. The regulator said it had begun engaging the affected companies to reconcile the figures and obtain agreement on the outstanding balances. The Auditor-General, however, rejected the explanation as unsatisfactory and directed the authority’s chief executive to account for the failure to recover the money before the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committees.

The audit also identified N1.06bn in unpaid statutory levies owed by 14 petroleum marketers and N217.84m in unremitted Industrial Training Fund contributions by the NMDPRA. The authority said it had recovered N3.19bn out of N4.25bn in outstanding 0.5 per cent petroleum levies for 2024, with demand notices issued for the remaining balance. The latest findings are likely to increase pressure on the regulator to strengthen revenue collection, improve internal controls and ensure that outstanding petroleum-sector obligations are recovered and remitted to government coffers.