The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has recovered N83.59 billion and $98.07 million in outstanding three per cent statutory levies owed to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) by oil companies.
The EFCC disclosed the recovery when its Special Adviser on Regulatory Compliance, Francis Usani, appeared before the Senate Committee on Public Accounts investigating findings from the 2021–2023 Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) oil and gas audit report.
The Senate panel, chaired by Senator Ibrahim Dankwambo, is examining unpaid statutory obligations by companies operating in Nigeria’s extractive sector.
According to the EFCC, the NEITI audit had identified N90.046 billion and $229.534 million in outstanding NDDC levies covering the period from 2015 to 2020.
Usani said the commission invited 43 oil companies for investigation and discovered that 24 firms operating in the Niger Delta had outstanding liabilities, while 19 others were cleared after being found to have no outstanding debts.
The EFCC directly recovered N76.884 billion and $81.077 million from the 24 companies, with the funds paid into its recovery account at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
“The EFCC recovered N76.884 billion and $81.077 million directly from the 24 companies.”
The commission later released N73.373 billion and $67.071 million to the NDDC, leaving N3.510 billion and $14.006 million in its recovery account as of July 31.
Oil firms make additional direct payments
The EFCC also disclosed that some oil companies paid an additional N6.710 billion and $16.994 million directly into the NDDC’s revenue account following its intervention.
When the direct payments to NDDC are combined with the EFCC’s recoveries, the total amount recovered rises to about N83.59 billion and $98.07 million.
Usani said the commission’s investigation was primarily focused on the unpaid three per cent levy owed to the NDDC, although it was also examining whether other statutory obligations and taxes remained unpaid.
“However, we did not lose sight of the fact that there could be other unpaid statutory obligations and taxes due to the federal government.”
The Senate investigation is expected to determine the extent to which oil companies have complied with their financial obligations to the NDDC and other government agencies, while also identifying possible revenue leakages in the oil and gas sector.
Source: Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC); Senate Committee on Public Accounts.
