Recent headlines have reminded us that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) under former President Goodluck Jonathan discretionarily spent billions of dollars in public revenues, unfettered by strong rules or oversight. This problem has
persisted since President Muhammadu Buhari took office NNPC sells several streams of crude oil. Below, we look at the three streams where NNPC fully controls the proceeds, and find that NNPC retained two thirds of the sale proceeds from them ($3.9 billion) in the second half of 2015. The government should move to curb the corporation’s discretionary, unaccountable use of much-needed public funds.
In mid-March, Nigeria’s auditor-general reported that NNPC withheld N3.2 trillion ($16 billion) in oil revenues from the country’s treasury in 2014

1 The Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) quickly piled on with a bigger number: the company retained N4.9 trillion ($25 billion) in revenues between 2011 and 2015.

2 NNPC disputed the auditor-general’s claims by putting out a third set of figures, and promised that a forensic audit, due soon, would validate its position.

3 Prompting déjà vu, these findings echo the 2013 accusations of former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Lamido Sanusi, who alleged that NNPC had failed to remit $49.8 billion in oil sale proceeds over nineteen months, thereby kicking off a slew of claims and counter claims. In the 2015 report Inside NNPC Oil Sales, we further documented the scale of the problem and debunked NNPC’s efforts to explain it away.

4 In 2014, auditors for PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) reviewed NNPC’s oil sales system, and wrote: “[NNPC has a] ‘blank’ cheque to spend money without limit or control. This is untenable and unsustainable and must be addressed immediately.”

5 The statement remains true today. As we explain below, no agreed rules govern how much money the NNPC can keep, and how it can spend those funds. As a result, NNPC under President Buhari’s administration still retains a major share of oil sale earnings and spends them at will. Until the government instates clear rules for NNPC financing, both the controversies and the underlying revenue leakages will persist.


DESPITE POSITIVE STEPS, MAKESHIFT PRACTICES REMAIN

Thanks to low oil prices and President Buhari’s personal resolve to tackle graft, the government has made positive changes in how NNPC sells the nation’s oil. Led by deputy petroleum minister and NNPC head Emmanuel Kachikwu, the new government
has cut the number of passive, well connected middlemen that pocket money from sales.

6 It has canceled costly, unbalanced NNPC swap contracts

7 and sought more efficient replacements.

8 And notably, NNPC now publishes monthly financial data, and


1 Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation of Nigeria, Highlights of Observations on the 2014 Annual
Report by the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation, submission to the Nigerian Parliament dated
March 14, 2016.

2 Camillus Eboh, “Nigeria’s state oil company withheld $25 bln between 2011 and 2015 – RMAFC,” Reuters,
March 22, 2016.

3 NNPC, “Press Release - Re: NNPC Failed to Remit N3.235 Trillion in 2014 – By Auditor General of the
Federation,” March 16, 2016.

4 Aaron Sayne, Alexandra Gillies and Christina Katsouris. Inside NNPC Oil Sales: A Case for Reform in Nigeria
(Natural Resource Governance Institute, 2015).

5 PricewaterhouseCoopers, Investigative Forensic Audit into the Allegations of Unremitted Funds into the
Federation Accounts by the NNPC (2015), 16.

6 For more on this issue, see Sayne, Gillies and Katsouris, Inside NNPC Oil Sales, 46-59.
7 NNPC, “Press Release - NNPC Cancels Contract for Delivery of Crude Oil to Refineries,” August 26, 2015.
8 NNPC, “Press Release


http://www.resourcegovernance.org/sites/default/files/documents/nrgi_nnpc-still-holds-blank-check_0.pdf

lalasticlala, mynd44 , seun


If i go school and i sure say i go school wetin this writeup dey talk be say na since 2011 NNPC don dey hold money for hand any how , and dem do am reach mid 2015 , but in the end , dem come talk say sai Buhari wey don do something for the NNPC matter , say he don better pass before and dem even suggest wetin Buhari go fit do , I fit be mumu , but this thread https://www.nairaland.com/3545190/4.2-billion-missing-nnpc-under dey try talk say Buhari dey allow this thing

Sarrki, omenka modath

nairaland resident paid apc online change agents have come again with their propaganda o,listen, we can read and write, therefore we don't need you guys to explain the article to us by your writing another article that is even longer than the original article. conclusion $4.2 billion dollars was not remitted by the nnpc in the first six months of buhari regime when he ruled without ministers or a cabinet QED. please who is the petroleum minister of Nigeria? the first to answer correctly would win a freebie from buhari.