Oil and gas companies operating in Nigeria remitted a combined $6.755 billion and ₦1.529 trillion to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) between 2021 and 2025, according to figures presented before a Senate investigative committee.
The disclosure was made during a public hearing by the Senate Public Accounts Committee, which is examining audit reports from the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) covering the 2021 to 2023 period.
Although the Senate investigation is focused on the NEITI reports for those years, the NDDC submitted updated figures showing statutory contributions made by oil and gas companies through 2025.
The payments represent the mandatory three per cent contribution that oil and gas companies are required to make to the NDDC. The funds are intended to support development projects, environmental interventions and other initiatives across the Niger Delta, the region that hosts much of Nigeria’s oil and gas production.
The NDDC delegation at the hearing was led by its Executive Director of Corporate Services, Ifedayo Abegunde, who represented the commission’s Managing Director, Samuel Ogbuku.
While presenting the commission’s records, NDDC officials revealed that significant outstanding obligations remain despite the billions of dollars and naira already paid.
According to the commission, oil and gas companies still owe approximately $290 million and ₦163 billion in statutory contributions for the period under review. The figures emerged as lawmakers continued their examination of financial and operational issues raised in audit queries issued by the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation concerning Nigeria’s extractive industries between 2021 and 2023.
The Senate Public Accounts Committee is chaired by Senator Ibrahim Dankwambo, representing Gombe North. The committee is examining whether government agencies and companies operating within the oil and gas sector have complied with relevant financial and statutory obligations.
Meanwhile, the hearing also brought fresh scrutiny to Nigeria’s former fuel subsidy regime and the management of crude oil revenues.
The Chairman of the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), Mohammed Shehu, disclosed that Nigeria spent ₦1.16 trillion on fuel subsidies in 2021. He further revealed that another ₦1.20 trillion was deducted from the federation’s crude oil sales proceeds during the same year.
Presenting RMAFC’s submission to the committee, Shehu said fuel subsidy payments placed a considerable burden on government finances. He explained that other deductions from crude oil revenues during the period included ₦16.20 billion for crude and petroleum product losses, ₦22.05 billion for pipeline repairs and ₦6.75 billion for strategic stock holding.
Shehu also questioned the way Nigeria currently calculates the 13 per cent derivation fund, arguing that the existing approach could undermine the constitutional purpose behind the derivation policy.
The revelations have added another layer to the Senate’s ongoing examination of Nigeria’s oil and gas revenue management. With billions of dollars in statutory contributions still outstanding and substantial deductions recorded from crude oil proceeds, the investigation is expected to continue examining how resources from the country’s most important revenue-generating sector are collected, distributed and used.
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