FG recovers N600bn from oil companies Via NEITI Audit
The Federal Government has recovered N600bn from oil and gas companies operating in Nigeria which comprised unpaid taxes, royalties, penalties and commission on rentals that were identified in the audit report of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative(NEITI).
Data seen in Abuja on Friday showed that the total liabilities of the 77 oil firms that were involved as at 2019 was N2.6tn, based on figures captured in the audit report of NEITI.
The House of Representatives invited the firms in a bid to recover the funds and it was gathered that after the intervention by the lawmakers, the companies commenced the process of remitting some of the funds.
Documents obtained by our correspondent in Abuja on Friday indicated that while the total recovery pre-2021 and before the pronouncement of NEITI was N900bn, the additional amount recovered after NEITI’s pronouncement/National Assembly review was N600bn.
NEITI conducts a financial, physical and process audit that assesses and reconciles physical and financial flows within Nigeria’s oil and gas industry in line with the EITI Standard and the NEITI Act 2007.
The oil and gas audit has the objective of confirming the outstanding payments (liabilities) due to the federation from each covered company through the respective revenue collection government agencies.
The management of NEITI had repeatedly expressed concern about the liabilities highlighted in its various reports considering the high demand for government revenue for development projects. Punch
