HURIWA demands transparency on N11.2tr oil-backed loans

The Public Accounts Committee of the House of Representatives will today question officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over alleged financial breaches totalling more than N802.19 billion.

The House also gave the HydroCarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) seven days to explain audit queries involving more than N400 billion.

Similarly, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) demanded full disclosure of the reported N11.2 trillion oil-backed loans, warning against using future crude production to ease present financial pressures

The allegations are contained in reports of the Auditor-General of the Federation (AuGF) covering the 2021, 2022 and 2023 financial years, which raised queries over procurement procedures, revenue management, payments and compliance with financial regulations by government agencies.

Chaired by the member representing Ede North/Ede South/Ejigbo/Egbedore Federal Constituency of Osun State, Bamidele Salam, the Public Accounts Committee is empowered under Sections 85, 88 and 89 of the Constitution as well as Order 20, Rule 6 of the House Rules, to examine public accounts and investigate issues relating to revenue losses, non-remittance of statutory funds and breaches of financial regulations.

A member of the committee, who requested anonymity because he was not authorised to speak, said the AuGF’s reports raised questions against the NNPCL in its 2021, 2022 and 2023 audits.

He added that INEC would also be required to provide explanations on issues raised in the AuGF’s 2022 and 2023 reports.

The AuGF’s report also reportedly flagged N83.66 billion allegedly warehoused from miscellaneous revenue in a sinking fund account, as well as N82.95 billion in alleged unauthorised deductions from Federation revenue.

A further N3.75 billion was reportedly flagged as a shortfall arising from the sale of petroleum products.

The committee is expected to require the NNPCL to provide supporting documents and explanations on the transactions and respond to the audit queries raised by the AuGF.

On INEC, the lawmaker said the commission had many questions to answer over procurement processes, payments to contractors and failure to remit statutory deductions.

He said the queries covered transactions during the tenure of the former INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, who has since been appointed an ambassador.

Asked to reveal the alleged misdeeds of the electoral umpire, the lawmaker was evasive, admitting only that “there are questions to be asked on money spent starting from the 2019 general election.”

THE House Public Accounts Committee issued the ultimatum at a public hearing yesterday after the agency failed to honour four previous invitations.

It directed HYPREP’s Programme Coordinator to appear and respond to queries raised in the 2021 and 2024 audit reports of the Office of the AuGF.

Chairman of the committee, Bamidele Salam, described the latest invitation as a final warning to the agency, insisting that HYPREP must appear before the committee by Monday, October 12, 2026, or face further action by the House.

The committee also invited the Chairman, Board of Trustees (BoT), Ogoni Remediation Trust Fund to address issues linked to the audit findings.

Among the queries was the agency’s failure to submit audited accounts to the AuGF’s office between 2017 and 2021.

The committee also questioned contracts involving $2.1 million over alleged irregular awards and failure to deduct statutory taxes.

Other queries covered N986 million paid for consultancy services without evidence of execution and N315 million paid for training and N7.2 billion spent on poorly executed contracts.

The auditors further questioned N268 million paid without pre-payment audit and N32 million in statutory taxes that the agency failed to deduct.

Another query involved N31.8 million paid to external solicitors without approval from the Attorney-General of the Federation.

He said the committee expected all relevant officials to provide clear answers and supporting documents when they appear.

HURIWA said the reported commitment of about 340 million barrels of future crude to service three loans raises concerns about transparency, fiscal responsibility and the interests of future generations.

In a statement yesterday, the National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, noted that Nigerians deserved to know how the borrowed funds were used and whether the country received fair value for committing such a large volume of future crude.

Onwubiko compared the arrangement to a father selling valuable family assets to finance present needs while leaving his children with little to inherit.

“This is the danger Nigerians must confront,” he said.

According to him, borrowing against future oil production is not necessarily unlawful. However, he said the scale of the reported commitments makes public scrutiny necessary.

“Nigerians have every right to demand to know whether the country is receiving fair value and what future generations are being asked to surrender,” Onwubiko said.

The group urged the Federal Government to explain how proceeds from the oil-backed facilities were spent. It also asked whether the funds went into projects capable of generating sustainable economic returns.

HURIWA further called on the government and NNPCL to publish details of the three financing arrangements.