KEY POINTS

• The audit flagged gaps in oversight at the NNPC London office.

• Officials lacked access to documents needed to verify the £14.3 million spending.

• The NNPC London office oversight issue adds to ongoing probes of the state oil firm.

Nigeria’s state oil company is again facing scrutiny after the Auditor-General flagged £14.3 million in unverified spending linked to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited’s London office.

The findings, contained in the 2022 audit report and described as interim observations, show a growing list of compliance gaps and unanswered questions around how the funds were managed.

The Auditor-General said the NNPC responded to the inquiry but added that several explanations did not hold up to regulatory standards, deepening concerns about internal controls at one of the country’s most influential public institutions.

Audit query on London office

The report detailed several failures in documentation, transparency and due-process compliance. Audit officials explained that they were not given access to the records needed to verify how the money assigned to NNPC’s London office was deployed during the 2021 financial year.

Without supporting documents or vouchers, officers could not confirm whether the spending met standards of economy, necessity or conformity with federal regulations. The audit cited multiple breaches of the Financial Regulations (2009), including provisions that require full service particulars, supporting invoices and clear justifications for expenditure.

The auditor warned that the absence of proper documentation introduces high risks, including diversion and misappropriation of public funds. These shortcomings, the report stated, reflect deeper weaknesses within NNPC’s internal control systems.

NNPC management pushed back, telling the audit team that the London office operates as a service unit with an approved annual budget. It said the £14.3 million allocated for 2021 was spent in line with operational needs and captured in the unit’s financial records. Management argued that the audit query lacked specific transaction details, making it difficult to provide tailored documentation.

NNPC said the London office maintains records covering personnel costs, fixed contracts and other operational commitments. It added that the documents could be provided upon request and insisted the company remains committed to strengthening internal controls and upholding regulatory compliance.

The Auditor-General concluded that the response remained insufficient until all recommendations are met, directing the Group Chief Executive Officer to recover the £14.3 million or face sanctions under the Financial Regulations.

NNPC London office oversight

The latest report adds to a string of accountability concerns around the national oil company. It follows earlier findings that accused the NNPC of irregular payments, inflated contracts and failure to deduct statutory taxes between 2020 and 2021, amounting to more than $51 million.

Other flagged items include questionable expenditures totalling about N684 million on abandoned projects and irregular procurements. The company’s history of opacity has long drawn public criticism. For decades, it did not release audited accounts until 2020.

Several investigations are still ongoing. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is probing 14 officials, including two former chief executives, over alleged involvement in a $2.7 billion refinery maintenance fraud.

According to Premium Times, the Senate Committee on Public Accounts is also examining an alleged N210 trillion discrepancy detected in NNPC’s financial statements between 2017 and 2023. The 2021 audit had earlier highlighted unauthorised deductions and diversion of N514 billion. Public pressure has grown, amplified by media calls for the recovery of missing funds. The latest audit findings on the NNPC London office reinforce concerns about accountability in the country’s oil sector.