By Damilola Aina
The Office of Auditor-General for the Federation has uncovered at least four major financial infractions amounting to N514bn in the operations of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited for the financial year ending December 31, 2021.
The alleged infractions include irregular deductions worth N343.64bn from domestic crude sales at source, warehousing of N83.66bn from the federation’s miscellaneous income in a sinking fund account, unauthorised deductions of N82.95bn from the federation revenue for refinery rehabilitation and the unsubstantiated payment of N3.75bn shortfalls from the sale of petrol.
The audit issues are contained in the 2021 audit report of non-compliance/internal control weaknesses in the MDAs for the 2021 financial year obtained by our correspondent on Sunday.
It said the issues violated the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the 2009 Act of Financial Regulations.
Analysing the issues, the auditor-general stated that a review of NNPC SAP payment records from March to May 2021 showed that N484.73bn was generated from the sales of 18,966,095 barrels of crude oil but N343.64bn was deducted as operational costs.
It said the company didn’t provide a breakdown of the costs, violating section 162 (1) which states that, “The federation shall maintain a special account to be called the federation account into which all revenue collected by government
