Nigeria orders oil revenue audit, enforces direct remittance to federation account
The Federal Government has commenced a comprehensive review of past oil and gas revenue collections following President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s executive order mandating the direct remittance of petroleum revenues into the Federation Account without deductions.
Officials familiar with the development said key institutions in the oil and gas sector have been directed to provide full financial records as part of a retrospective audit aimed at identifying and recovering outstanding sums owed to the Federation.
Agencies affected by the directive include the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission and Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, among others.
The directive was conveyed in a letter signed by the Minister of State for Finance and Chairman of the Federation Account Allocation Committee, Doris Uzoka-Anite, titled “Implementation of Presidential Executive Order on Safeguarding Federation Oil and Gas Revenues and Providing Regulatory Clarity – Immediate Remittance Directive and Retrospective Audit.”
End to Deductions
The minister directed all institutions and operators to immediately cease deductions and off-budget retentions from petroleum revenues in line with Section 162 of the Constitution, which requires all Federation revenues to be paid into the Federation Account.
Agencies were instructed to halt:
Collection and management of the 30 percent allocation to the Frontier Exploration Fund
Retention of the 30 percent management fee on profit oil and gas revenues previously payable to NNPC Limited
Payment of gas flare penalties into the Midstream and Downstream Gas Infrastructure Fund
All other off-budget allocations and administrative deductions.
Under the new framework, all petroleum-related revenues — including profit oil, profit gas, royalty oil, tax oil and gas flare penalties — will be remitted directly into a Sub-Federation Account to be managed by the Office of the Accountant-General pending distribution.
The directive states that no institution will be allowed to retain or deduct funds before remittance.
Retrospective Audit Ordered
The Federal Government also commissioned a retrospective audit covering three major areas of petroleum revenue management.
The audit will examine:
Collections, expenditures and balances under the Frontier Exploration Fund established by the Petroleum Industry Act
Gas flare penalty collections and utilisation under the Midstream and Downstream Gas Infrastructure Fund
The 30 percent management fees previously deducted by NNPC from profit oil and gas revenues
All relevant institutions, including regulatory agencies, revenue authorities and oil companies, have been directed to provide unrestricted access to audit teams and submit full financial documentation.
Restitution Required
Authorities said any outstanding funds identified through the audit process must be immediately returned to the Federation.
Weekly remittance reports will be submitted to the Ministry of Finance, while failure to comply with the directive will be treated as a violation of constitutional fiscal provisions and a lawful executive order.
The new measures are expected to strengthen fiscal transparency and improve Federation revenue flows as the government seeks to boost public finances and support budget implementation.
