• NMDPRA under pressure over unpaid levies, legacy obligations
• 14 marketers owe additional N1.06bn, report says
• Major marketers deny indebtedness
The Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation has raised fresh concerns over more than N432 billion in outstanding petroleum-sector obligations involving the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).
The bulk of the amount, N431.01 billion, represents legacy debts attributed to petroleum marketers under the National Transport Average, bridging allowance and other outstanding obligations, according to the Auditor-General’s 2024 Annual Report on Non-Compliance and Internal Control Weaknesses in Ministries, Departments and Agencies.
The audit report, which examined financial irregularities across government institutions, said the outstanding N431.01bn had remained largely unrecovered years after the liabilities were incurred.
The Auditor-General noted that as of August 2025, there was no evidence that the situation had changed or that adequate justification had been provided for the failure to recover the money.
The report said the outstanding amount included N315.18bn linked to the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria, comprising N132.56bn in bridging allowance obligations and N182.62bn in National Transport Average liabilities.
Another N106.30bn was attributed to the Major Energy Marketers Association of Nigeria, while N9.53bn represented an unissued legacy debt in promissory notes by the Federal Ministry of Finance.
According to the auditors, the failure to recover the funds was linked to weaknesses in the NMDPRA’s internal control system and could expose public funds to possible loss.
NMDPRA explanation rejected
The NMDPRA acknowledged the outstanding amount but described the N431.01bn as legacy receivables due from marketers.
The authority said it had been engaging affected companies to reconcile the accounts and obtain agreement on the outstanding balances.
However, the Auditor-General rejected the explanation, maintaining that the finding would remain valid until the recommendations were implemented.
The auditors recommended that the NMDPRA chief executive explain the non-recovery of the money to the Public Accounts Committees of the National Assembly and ensure that the funds were recovered and remitted to the Treasury.
The report warned that failure to collect and account for government revenue could attract sanctions and amount to gross misconduct.
N1.06bn levy outstanding
The audit also identified N1.06bn in unpaid statutory levies owed by 14 oil marketers.
Under the Petroleum Industry Act, the NMDPRA is entitled to collect a 0.5 per cent levy on the wholesale price of petroleum products sold in Nigeria from wholesale customers.
The report said N1.059bn remained outstanding as of January 24, 2025.
The NMDPRA, however, said it had recovered N3.19bn out of N4.25bn in outstanding 0.5 per cent Authority Levy covering January to December 2024.
According to the authority, the remaining N1.06bn was being pursued through demand notices issued to defaulting marketers.
The Auditor-General sustained the finding on the outstanding N1.06bn and directed the authority to recover and remit the funds to the Treasury.
N217.8m ITF liability
The NMDPRA was also queried over N217.84 million in unremitted Industrial Training Fund contributions for 2024.
The report said the authority’s payroll stood at N21.78bn, making it liable to remit one per cent of its payroll to the ITF under the relevant law.
The NMDPRA said it was in the process of settling the obligation and would submit evidence of payment to the Auditor-General after remittance.
The response was again deemed unsatisfactory, with the auditors insisting that the finding would remain until the money was paid.
The development comes amid heightened scrutiny of government agencies over revenue collection, debt recovery and compliance with public finance regulations.
Meanwhile, some major petroleum marketers contacted over the report denied owing the NMDPRA, insisting that their financial obligations to the authority had been settled.
