THE Federal Government has revealed plans to carry out a forensic audit of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) to promote operational efficiency and address misappropriation claims.
The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, reportedly hinted at this at the ongoing Nigerian investor forum, held on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)/World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington, DC.
He said the audit of the state-owned oil firm will come soon without reference to a definite time.
At the forum on Wednesday, April 23, Edun stressed that the government plans to reconcile NNPCL books to reposition the company for efficient operations and service delivery.
“The NNPC needs to come to the table with more dollar revenue,” the minister was quoted to have saying.
The audit of the NNPCL comes at a time when stakeholders believe the government should revamp oil production in the face of the global uncertainty heightened by the United States and China’s tariff war.
Edun’s revelation that the federal government would carry out a forensic audit of NNPCL followed the assurance given by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, that the NNPCL under the former group chief executive officer (GCEO), Mele Kyari, would be investigated.
In a related development, a group of protesters under the banner of Concerned Citizens Against Corruption were reported to have stormed the AGF’s office, calling for a thorough investigation into Kyari and NNPCL’s transactions over the past five years.
A group of lawyers from the Guardians of Democracy and Rule of Law Wednesday, we’re also reported to have marched to the AGF’s office to submit a petition seeking Kyari’s investigation, arrest, and prosecution.
The ICIR reported in January this year that the Office of the Auditor-General of Nigeria indicted the NNPCL of N514 billion in fraud.
The allegation was contained in the 2021 auditor general’s annual report published in November 2024.
The report disclosed that the NNPCL misappropriated funds and diverted revenue meant for the Federation in 2021.
A breakdown of the allegations revealed that the auditor-general indicted the NNPCL for unauthorised deductions of N82.9 billion from federation revenue for refinery rehabilitation.
It berated the state-owned oil company for its irregular deductions of funds from domestic crude sales at the source.
It further observed that N82.9 billion was deducted from the sale of crude oil and gas from the 2020 and 2021 records, which were deducted at source for purported refinery rehabilitation.
On April 2, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu made a change to the board of NNPCL and sacked Kyari along with other executives.
The president appointed Bayo Ojulari as the new NNPC’s GCEO and named Ahmadu Musa Kida as the non-executive chairman, replacing Pius Akinyelure.
Continuing, Edun said the recent changes in the NNPCL management were part of a broader effort by the federal government to clean up and examine the company closely.