The World Bank has called for a forensic audit of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) amid revelations that the state oil company is remitting only half of the expected revenue to government coffers despite the official removal of fuel subsidies last year.
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In its Nigeria Development Update published Monday, the global financial institution revealed that NNPCL’s contributions to the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) have actually decreased compared to previous years, raising questions about the economic benefits of the controversial subsidy removal policy.
“Despite the subsidy being fully removed in October 2024, NNPCL started transferring the revenue gains to the Federation only in January 2025. Since then, it has been remitting only 50 percent of these gains, using the rest to offset past arrears,” the report stated.
Financial data included in the World Bank document shows a significant decline in NNPCL’s contributions to national revenue. The “Federation share of the NNPCL” dropped from ₦500 billion between January and December 2023 to just ₦300 billion for the same period in 2024. Similarly, the Persons with Significant Control (PSC) dividend from NNPCL fell from ₦600 billion to ₦300 billion during the same timeframe.
The World Bank stated that resolving remaining arrears and ensuring the full benefits of subsidy reform reach the Federation “is critical for sound fiscal management.” The report projected that federal government revenues for 2025 should comprise 70 percent from oil and 30 percent from non-oil sources, but noted this calculation assumes “full remittance of the fiscal savings from PMS subsidy removal.”
“However, as of March 2025, this full remittance had not yet occurred, as NNPCL claims it has large PMS-related subsidies that should be settled first,” the report added.
This isn’t the first time the World Bank has raised concerns about NNPCL’s transparency. In October 2024, the institution ranked Nigeria as “weak” in terms of “improving the reporting of oil revenues to FAAC” and in reporting what is owed between NNPCL and the Federation.
The revelations come amid growing public scrutiny of NNPCL’s operations. On Monday, Nigerian protesters gathered at the Nigerian High Commission and the United Kingdom Home Office in London and accused Mele Kyari of fleeing Nigeria to avoid accountability for alleged financial misconduct during his 2019-2025 tenure at the company.
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