Transparency International Nigeria has pointed accusing fingers at President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his predecessors, Muhammadu Buhari and Olusegun Obasanjo, for the persistent financial irregularities and unaccounted remittances in the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).

This accusation follows a damning World Bank Nigeria Development Update report released last week, which revealed that NNPCL failed to remit crude revenue amounting to N500 billion to the Federation account between October and December 2024.

According to the World Bank report, out of the N1.1 trillion revenue generated from crude sales and other income in 2024, the state-owned oil company only remitted N600 billion, leaving a staggering deficit of N500 billion unaccounted for.

Speaking exclusively to DAILY POST on Monday, Transparency International Nigeria's country director, Auwal Rafsanjani, emphasized that the financial opaqueness in NNPCL has persisted despite the president serving as the substantive minister of petroleum. Since 1999, three of Nigeria's five presidents—Obasanjo, Buhari, and now Tinubu—have simultaneously held the petroleum minister portfolio.

"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 stated. "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 further criticized the practice of presidents appointing themselves as petroleum ministers, saying, "All these happened under the president, who is the substantive petroleum minister. The president is responsible. Whether Buhari, Tinubu, or Obasanjo. That is why we have advocated for a substantive minister of petroleum."

The Transparency International official also blamed the National Assembly for failing in its oversight responsibilities, describing the situation as "a shame" and insisting that "the indictment should be to the president and the National Assembly for the mess in NNPCL."

Energy expert Barr. Ameh Madaki, managing partner of BBH Consulting and convener of the Public Interest Advocacy Network (PIAN), echoed similar sentiments, stating that a comprehensive audit of NNPCL is long overdue.

"The probe required in NNPCL under Mele Kyari goes far beyond the N500 billion referred to in the World Bank report," Madaki said. He questioned what happened to the $3.3 billion borrowed by NNPCL to shore up the value of the naira on crude oil futures sales contracts and highlighted that throughout President Buhari's second term, NNPCL did not remit funds to the Federation account.

Madaki urged the new NNPCL Group Chief Executive Officer, Bayo Ojulari, to "do the needful and purge the organisation of its opaqueness so that Nigerians can, for the first time, reap the benefits of having a National Oil and Gas Company."

This controversy comes just weeks after President Tinubu's administration sacked former NNPCL Group Chief Executive Officer Mele Kyari and other board members on April 2, citing concerns about their performance. Under Kyari's leadership, there were announcements about the commencement of petroleum products production at Port Harcourt and Warri refineries in November and December last year, but the actual production capacity remained contentious.

The International Monetary Fund has also joined calls for more transparent transfer of fuel subsidy gains by the NNPCL, while the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) on Sunday demanded a thorough investigation into the unremitted N500 billion.

As pressure mounts for accountability, Rafsanjani emphasized that "the missing money must be recovered and used for the good of all Nigerians," adding that "the subsidy is not the problem, but the corruption in the process is."