CORRUPTION ALLEGATIONS ROCK NNPCL AS TINUBU, BUHARI, OBASANJO IMPLICATED
Transparency International Nigeria has accused President Bola Tinubu and former presidents Muhammadu Buhari and Olusegun Obasanjo of complicity in years of financial misconduct and unaccounted remittances by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL). The allegation follows a recent Nigeria Development Update (NDU) report by the World Bank, which disclosed that NNPCL failed to remit N500 billion to the Federation Account between October and December 2024.
The report revealed that while the company generated N1.1 trillion in revenue from crude oil sales and other sources, only N600 billion was paid into the account. The Country Director of TI Nigeria, Auwal Rafsanjani, blamed successive presidents and the National Assembly for failing to ensure accountability in the operations of NNPCL.
“The need to carry out a comprehensive audit of NNPCL is necessary to ascertain the level of financial transactions under Mele Kyari and other leadership of NNPCL,” Rafsanjani said. “If we want to have a comprehensive audit to know all the missing money lost from 1999 to date, it is only a thorough audit that will ascertain this.”
Rafsanjani also criticized the practice of presidents appointing themselves as ministers of petroleum, saying it has contributed to the lack of accountability in the sector. “The president is responsible. Whether Buhari, Tinubu, or Obasanjo. That is why we have advocated for a substantive minister of petroleum.”
The report has intensified calls from civil society organizations for a thorough probe of the state-owned oil company. Energy expert Barr. Ameh Madaki described the lack of transparency in NNPCL’s operations as longstanding and deeply entrenched, calling for a probe that goes beyond the N500 billion referred to in the World Bank report.
The calls for accountability have grown louder following Tinubu’s decision to sack Kyari and other members of the NNPCL board amid concerns about their performance. The issue has further fueled public calls for an independent investigation into NNPCL’s finances and governance.
