Business

NNPCL secures N318bn to fund new oil exploration

Published

11 months ago

September 25, 2025

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has received N318.05bn between January and August 2025 for frontier oil exploration, findings by The PUNCH have shown.

This is according to documents from the September 2025 Federation Account Allocation Committee meeting obtained by The PUNCH.

The deductions represent 30 per cent of Production Sharing Contract profits, which are automatically set aside each month for exploration in inland basins.

The Petroleum Industry Act 2021 created the Frontier Exploration Fund, which mandates that 30 per cent of profits from NNPC’s Production Sharing Contracts be channelled into oil search across under-explored basins, including Anambra, Bida, Dahomey, Sokoto, Chad and Benue.

Regulations also require the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission to manage the fund through an escrow account and issue an annual Frontier Basin Exploration and Development Plan.

Further findings by The PUNCH showed that the NUPRC in July 2025 unveiled a Frontier Basin Exploration and Development Plan detailing proposed seismic surveys, stress-field detection, data integration, and wildcat drilling across basins in Benin Dahomey, Anambra, Bida, Sokoto, Chad, and Benue.

The plan outlined work such as logging and testing of the Eba-1 well in the Dahomey basin, drilling of a new wildcat in Bida, reappraisal of Wadi wells in Chad, and reassignment of Ebeni-1 drilling in Benue.

Signed by the Chief Executive of the NUPRC, Gbenga Komolafe, the document stated that the outcome of these activities would determine further de-risking of assets and exploratory drilling in line with statutory requirements.

Analysis of the FAAC documents by The PUNCH further showed that PSC profits so far this year amounted to N1.06tn, below the budgeted N1.58tn, creating a shortfall of N518.76bn.

Despite this gap, the statutory 30 per cent deduction for frontier exploration was consistently applied, month after month, producing an accumulated N318.05bn by August.

The monthly trend reveals the volatility of the fund. In January, N31.77bn was deducted into the frontier line, when PSC profits came in at N105.91bn.

The February deduction rose to N38.30bn from a profit of N127.67bn, representing a 20.6 per cent increase on the January inflow.

March provided the first big surge, with N61.49bn allocated to frontier exploration from profits of N204.96bn, a jump of 60.5 per cent on February’s figure.

April, however, saw deductions ease back to N36.58bn as profits slid to N121.93bn, a 40.5 per cent drop compared with March.

In May, the fund received N38.8bn, only slightly higher than April’s contribution, reflecting profit of N129.33bn.

June delivered the lowest allocation so far this year, just N6.83bn, after profits collapsed to N22.77bn. That represented an 82.4 per cent fall from May.

The flow recovered somewhat in July, with N25.34bn transferred into the fund from profits of N84.48bn.

In August, the line shot up again to its highest level so far this year. With PSC profit surging to N263.13bn, the fund received N78.94bn, more than three times the July amount and twelve times June’s contribution.

Across the eight months, the monthly allocations to the frontier fund varied sharply, from as little as N6.83bn in June to as much as N78.94bn in August.

Yet by the end of the period, the automatic deductions had steadily accumulated N318.05bn into NNPCL’s control for exploration in new oil basins.

The same 30 per cent rule also applied to NNPCL’s management fees, which mirrored the frontier deductions exactly.

In January, NNPCL booked N31.77bn; in February, N38.30bn; in March, N61.49bn; in April, N36.58bn; in May, N38.8bn; in June, N6.83bn; in July, N25.34bn; and in August, N78.94bn.

This brought the company’s management fees to N318.05bn in the first eight months of the year.

Based on the figures, the oil firm got a total of N636.1bn for frontier exploration and management fees.

The PUNCH further observed that the Federation Account, entitled to 40 per cent of PSC profits, also experienced the same volatility.

It received N42.364bn in January and N51.067bn in February. March brought N81.985bn, the strongest inflow of the first quarter.

April saw a fall to N48.772bn, followed by N51.730bn in May. June gave the lowest figure of the year at N9.110bn.

In July, receipts rose again to N33.792bn, before climbing steeply to N105.250bn in August, the largest monthly payout so far.

Year-to-date, the Federation Account has received N424.071bn from PSC profits, still well behind the budgeted N631.573bn, leaving a shortfall of N207.502bn.

The FAAC documents confirmed that while PSC profits generated just over N1.06tn this year, the deductions left the Federation Account with significantly less to share among the three tiers of government.

The pressure has been compounded by the non-performance of NNPCL’s interim dividend line.

Budgeted at N271.184bn per month, or N2.169tn year-to-date, the company has not remitted any amount so far, leaving a gaping hole in the federation’s revenue plan.

The issue has prompted closer scrutiny. The FAAC documents record that a special subcommittee was set up to examine the 30 per cent frontier deductions.

The committee met with NNPCL, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, and the Central Bank of Nigeria.

At the meeting, NNPCL presented details of exploration activities carried out in all the inland basins from 1999 to date and outlined its intended activities for 2025.

Committee members, however, demanded greater transparency, insisting that NNPCL provide detailed financial records of projects undertaken before and after the Petroleum Industry Act was passed.

The company was directed to submit the information by September 19, 2025, but the documents noted that the assignment was still “work in progress.”

The Director-General of the Budget Office of the Federation, Tanimu Yakubu, earlier said Nigeria had lost nearly 60 per cent of its gross oil revenue to deductions under the Petroleum Industry Act 2022, which allocates 30 per cent to the NNPCL as management fees and another 30 per cent to the Frontier Exploration Fund.

He made this statement at a stakeholders’ engagement in Abuja, organised by the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, to review progress and challenges in implementing the extended 2024 capital budget and the 2025 capital budget under the Bottom-Up Cash Planning Policy.

“Once the Act came into effect without new revenue sources to replace the loss, we lost a sizable part of what used to fund 80 per cent of public expenditure,” Yakubu said.

He added that oil revenues had performed even worse in the first half of 2025 due to low prices and output shortfalls.

Yakubu said he had begun moves in the National Assembly to amend the PIA to recover part of the lost revenue.

During the Federal Executive Council meeting in Abuja last month, President Bola Tinubu directed a review of deductions and revenue retention practices by Nigeria’s major revenue-generating agencies.

The move aims to boost public savings, enhance spending efficiency, and unlock resources for growth.

The agencies include the Federal Inland Revenue Service, the Nigeria Customs Service, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.

Tinubu specifically called for a reassessment of NNPC’s 30 per cent management fee and 30 per cent frontier exploration deduction under the Petroleum Industry Act.

He tasked the Economic Management Team, chaired by Edun, to present actionable recommendations to the FEC on the optimal way forward.

The President said the directive was part of efforts to sustain reforms that have dismantled economic distortions, restored policy credibility, enhanced resilience, and bolstered investor confidence.

However, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, as well as the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, rejected the Federal Government’s plans to divest significant stakes in Joint Venture assets managed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.

The two unions warned that the move to allegedly amend the Petroleum Industry Act and remove the running of oil and gas from the NNPCL could endanger the country’s economic stability, weaken its oil industry, and jeopardise the welfare of workers.

They stated that the policies are dangerous and capable of bankrupting the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.

The oil workers urged President Bola Tinubu to intervene and halt the plan.

Experts seek deductions

Speaking with The PUNCH on Wednesday, the Chief Executive Officer of AHA Strategies, who is an oil and gas expert, Mr Ademola Adigun, has faulted the 30 per cent allocation of Production Sharing Contract profits to frontier oil exploration, describing it as “unrealistic and too high.”

Reacting to revelations that NNPCL received N318.05bn for frontier exploration in just eight months without paying dividends to the Federation Account, Adigun said the current arrangement was not justifiable under prevailing economic conditions.

“The money allocation is unrealistic, too high. It is not well used now,” he stated.

He backed President Bola Tinubu’s call for a review of deductions by major revenue agencies, including NNPCL, insisting that more revenue should flow into the Federation Account. “I don’t think it’s worth it to continue this way,” Adigun added.

The industry expert recommended that the frontier allocation be cut drastically, proposing that it should not exceed 10 per cent.

“Maximum of 10 per cent is what I would suggest,” he said.

However, an energy law scholar at the University of Lagos, Professor Dayo Ayoade, has cautioned against a hasty amendment of the Petroleum Industry Act, stressing that the law took nearly two decades of negotiations and compromises before it was passed.

Reacting to the revelations on frontier deductions, he said, “It took us 19 years of reform to agree on the PIA, and the PIA is actually a delicate balance of a lot of compromises. The Frontier Exploration Fund, in many ways, was like a counterbalance to the Host Community Trust Fund.”

While acknowledging Nigeria’s urgent revenue needs, Ayoade insisted that NNPCL must give a detailed account of the money it has collected for frontier exploration.

“It was one of the biggest problems I had with the PIA because I knew that 30 per cent of PSC profits going into just exploration was too high. I would rather that exploration be liberalised and put in the hands of the private sector,” he explained.

He suggested that private investors willing to take the risk of exploring frontier basins should be offered strong tax and operational incentives, instead of government using public funds through NNPCL.

“There should not be any NNPCL spending government money on this project,” Ayoade added.

The scholar also warned that the current funding model posed risks to fiscal federalism and undermined NNPCL’s commercial credibility.

“The funding structure is not really sustainable, and that is the truth. NNPCL is not really a commercial company. All it does is act as a middleman for government and collect money it has not really earned,” he argued, adding that the company should be judged by profits generated from its own fields and operations rather than from joint ventures or production sharing arrangements.

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Business

Agricultural quarantine service postpones release of recruitment shortlist

Published

3 days ago

August 14, 2026

Newsbreak365_Admin

The Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service has postponed the publication of shortlisted candidates for its ongoing recruitment exercise, which was initially scheduled for Thursday, August 13.

NAQS said the decision was made to ensure a thorough, transparent and accurate recruitment process.

The agency announced the postponement in a public notice signed by the Director of Human Resources, ACG Issaka Ahmed, and posted on its X handle on Friday.

“In order to ensure a thorough, transparent and accurate process, we are unable to release the list of shortlisted candidates as scheduled,” the notice stated.

The agency apologised for the delay and urged applicants and members of the public to remain patient while awaiting a new date.

“We sincerely regret any inconvenience or uncertainty this delay may have caused and appreciate the patience, understanding and continued interest of all applicants.

“All applicants and the general public are hereby notified that a new date will be communicated in due course through our official communication channels,” it said.

The agency advised applicants to rely only on information released through its official channels.

The recruitment exercise, which opened on July 28 and closed on August 10, attracted 606,928 attempted applications, while 407,659 were successfully submitted, according to statistics released by NAQS on Wednesday.

The agency said 199,269 applications were incomplete at the close of the application period.

The Assistant Superintendent of Quarantine II cadre, requiring HND or bachelor’s degree, recorded the highest number of applications with 290,076, followed by Quarantine Assistant II with 117,177 applications.

Other cadres included the NCE category with 79,685 applications, OND with 70,170, and the Superintendent cadre requiring a master’s degree with 13,183 applications.

PUNCH Online reports that NAQS said it will conduct a computer-based test and interviews on August 15, after shortlisted candidates are released on August 13.

However, candidates will now await new dates.

The recruitment exercise covers the Superintendent, Inspectorate and Assistant cadres.

Source: punchng.com

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Business

Customs dismiss smuggling, revenue leakage allegations

Published

4 days ago

August 13, 2026

Newsbreak365_Admin

The Nigeria Customs Service has dismissed allegations of increased smuggling, revenue leakage, recruitment impropriety and manipulation of succession within the service, describing them as a misrepresentation of its operations and administrative processes.

The service’s National Public Relations Officer, Deputy Comptroller Abdullahi Maiwada, stated this in a response released on Thursday to an investigative report published by a media outlet (not PUNCH) on August 7, 2026.

The report had alleged intensified smuggling along the Seme, Idiroko, Ilaro, Ipokia and Igbeti-Kishi corridors, as well as manipulation of the 846 valuation code at the Apapa, Tin Can Island and PTML Area Commands.

Maiwada said the claim of a surge in smuggling was inconsistent with the service’s enforcement activities, pointing to regular seizures recorded along the affected corridors.

“Our responsibility is to reduce smuggling to the barest minimum, not to claim that it can be completely eradicated,” he said.

On the 846 valuation code, the NCS explained that it was a digital tool designed for vehicles with non-standard or non-compliant Vehicle Identification Numbers, including specialised heavy equipment, classic vehicles and customised models.

“The 846 code is an established digital valuation code within the Customs portal, specifically designated for vehicles with non-standard or non-compliant Vehicle Identification Numbers,” Maiwada said.

He added that standard vehicles were assessed automatically through manufacturer-linked databases, while 846 applications were subjected to secondary approval by valuation officers and Area Controllers.

Maiwada said discrepancies discovered through post-clearance audits could lead to Demand Notices for the recovery of short-collected duties and sanctions against offending operators, adding that revenue collections at major ports had reached historic levels under the digital framework.

On the recruitment of Assistant Superintendents of Customs II, the Service said the exercise was conducted under the authorisation of the Nigeria Customs Service Board and in line with the NCS Act 2023 and Federal Character Commission guidelines.

It said successful candidates were issued provisional offers subject to medical verification, background checks and formal acceptance.

The Service also rejected allegations of succession manipulation and favouritism among officers, saying promotions were determined by seniority, merit, promotion examinations and available vacancies in accordance with established regulations.

“Succession and promotion within the Service are governed by established rules and career progression structures, not personal preference,” the Service said.

Maiwada said leadership training for Deputy Comptrollers was part of the Service’s human capital development strategy, aimed at strengthening trade operations, intelligence management and executive leadership.

He explained that approved training programmes and international exposures were funded through budgetary allocations or formal technical assistance arrangements with partner institutions.

Responding to calls for independent investigations, the NCS said it remained subject to oversight by the Federal Ministry of Finance, National Assembly, Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation and anti-corruption agencies.

“The management maintains a firm, intolerant posture toward corruption, revenue leakage or administrative misconduct,” the Service stated.

It added that any officer or stakeholder found culpable would face disciplinary action and prosecution in accordance with the law, while assuring Nigerians that the Service would cooperate with any legitimate investigation by statutory authorities.

Source: punchng.com

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Business

Patience Jonathan revealed she mentored Azikel refinery boss Eruani from ‘small boy’ to big businessman

Published

4 days ago

August 13, 2026

Newsbreak365_Admin

Ex-President Goodluck Jonathan’s wife, Patience, has described the Group President of Azikel Group, Dr Azibapu Eruani, as a “small boy” she raised and mentored into the league of Nigeria’s biggest businessmen.

She said her guidance was behind his bold entry into big business at a relatively young age.

The former First Lady spoke on Tuesday in a video which went viral on Thursday during an inspection tour of the Azikel Refinery in Obunagha, Bayelsa State, alongside other dignitaries.

She said she personally introduced Eruani to billionaire businessmen, Aliko Dangote and Aminu Dantata, and pushed him to aspire to their level despite being the youngest among them.

“He’s a boy that I brought up. We are always together. Although he’s the little one among us when we are friends — Dangote, Seyi, Dantata, Eruani — among us, he’s the smallest. But I made sure he followed the Dangotes, he followed Dantata.

“Because I’m a woman in their midst, I made sure I told this small boy, ‘Go and follow them, and stop the grammar.’ But when he told me that one day he would be like Dangote, I said, ‘You’re thinking too high.’ I prayed to God to grant him his heart’s desire,” she said.

Group President of Azikel Group, Dr Azibapu Eruani

The former First Lady also recalled how the immediate past APC administration under Muhammadu Buhari initially failed to grant Eruani a refinery licence before eventually approving three.

“During the Buhari administration, he and others came to me and told me they were going to apply for a refinery. I told him, ‘Eruani, your brother, the President, did not give you a refinery.

“Is it the APC government that will give you one?’ I prayed it would happen. But later, they came back and told me they had been given three refineries,” she said.

The inspection coincided with the arrival of the refinery’s Crude Distillation Unit, a major milestone in the development of the $1bn facility.

The 25,000 barrels-per-day plant is a private hydro-skimming refinery designed to process condensate into petrol, diesel, aviation fuel, kerosene and other products.

It is set to become Nigeria’s second-largest full-slate refinery and the first major privately owned refinery in the Niger Delta.

The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Niger Delta Development Commission, Samuel Ogbuku, who joined the inspection tour, commended Eruani for his perseverance, noting that he had attended the project’s groundbreaking ceremony eight years ago.

Ogbuku described the refinery as an inspiration and a potential catalyst for investment, job creation and economic growth in Bayelsa State, and urged residents, particularly youths, to key into the opportunities it would create.

He also praised the Bayelsa State Government for improving road infrastructure leading to the refinery site and called for continued support for the project.

Governor Douye Diri, who was represented at the inspection by his deputy, Peter Akpe, has consistently backed the project, which is expected to employ hundreds of workers and drive industrialisation in the state.

Other dignitaries at the event included the Chairman of the Bayelsa State Council of Traditional Rulers, King Bubaraye Dakolo; Vice President of Azikel Group, Presley Asemota; and Isaac Yalah, among others.

Source: punchng.com

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