All of SERAP's N94.4bn sits in the Auditor-General's audit of the gas fund; its largest item, N38.61bn of 2024 flare penalties, the fund puts at 43 kobo

On Sunday, 4 October 2026, Channels Television reported that the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) had urged President Bola Tinubu to order an investigation into alleged irregularities of N94.4 billion in two petroleum-sector bodies. SERAP's letter, dated 3 October according to Vanguard and signed by its deputy director, Kolawole Oluwadare, gives the President seven days to act. It names the Midstream and Downstream Gas Infrastructure Fund (MDGIF) and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), and it rests on the Auditor-General for the Federation's 2024 Annual Report on Non-compliance, Volume II, which SERAP says was published on 7 August 2026.

Vero Record obtained that volume, a 352-page scanned PDF, and read the sections SERAP relies on: the MDGIF audit at pages 742 to 755 and the NUPRC audit at pages 773 to 775. The seven sums SERAP lists all appear in the report at the printed amounts. They add to N94,424,685,534.65, which SERAP rounds to N94.4 billion. Every one of the seven is printed in the audit of a single body, the MDGIF, a fund created by section 52 of the Petroleum Industry Act 2021 to finance gas infrastructure and paid for by a 0.5 per cent levy on the wholesale price of petroleum products and natural gas and by gas flare penalties.

The report's largest single item, N38,610,104,671.31, is gas flare penalty money for 2024. The auditors took the NUPRC's own figure for gas flare penalties in 2024, N391,264,227,593.46, deducted the 4 per cent cost of collection, N15,650,569,103.74, and arrived at N375,613,658,489.72 due to the fund. The fund's books show N337,003,553,818.41 received across the twelve months. The difference is the N38.61 billion. Vero Record re-added the twelve monthly receipts in the report's table; they come to N337,003,553,818.41 exactly, and the subtraction holds to the kobo. The body text above the table gives the net figure as N375,613,658,489.31; the table's N375,613,658,489.72 is the one that follows from the arithmetic.

SERAP's letter, as reported, describes this sum as gas flare penalties that the NUPRC "failed to remit". The report itself places the item in the MDGIF's section, calls it an "under-collection" by the fund, and recommends that the fund's Executive Director recover the money "from the Commission" and pay it into the fund. The NUPRC's own section of the same report raises two issues, and neither concerns gas flare penalties. The report prints no response from the NUPRC on the N38.61 billion. Whether the commission held money back, whether it sits with the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, through which it passes, or whether the gap is one of timing, the report does not settle.

The fund's management disputed the figure. In its printed response it said the NUPRC remits gross revenue into the Federation Account and reports on a "proceeding month basis", that the Accountant-General deducts the 4 per cent after each monthly allocation meeting and transfers the balance, and that the fund books what it receives in the month it arrives. On its own records, management said, gross gas flare penalties for 2024 were N391,264,227,593.03, so the only shortfall from the NUPRC was "43 kobo", which it put down to rounding. The auditors rejected the reply as "unsatisfactory because the calculation in the audit response is not correct".

The report does not show its working on that rejection, but the fund's own numbers point the same way. If gross penalties were N391.26 billion, 96 per cent of that is N375.61 billion, while the fund's books show N337.00 billion received. Management's comparison sets one gross figure against another gross figure. It does not explain the N38.61 billion gap between the net amount due and the net amount booked.

A second gas flare item covers 2023 (pages 744 and 745). The NUPRC reported N140,542,799,981.78 in gas flare penalties in its audited statements; less 4 per cent, N5,621,711,999.27, the fund was due N134,921,087,982.51 and recorded N122,441,404,428.64. The difference, N12,479,683,553.87, re-adds exactly. Here management gave a different gross figure from its own records, N136,483,545,625.14, put the NUPRC's under-remittance at N4,059,254,356.64, and said it would write to the commission through the Accountant-General to request clarification or a refund. On management's own gross figure, 96 per cent is N131,024,203,800.13, still N8,582,799,371.49 more than the fund booked. The auditors described this response as "deemed implemented" while printing a recommendation to recover the full N12.48 billion; the report does not explain the combination.

Two further items concern the 0.5 per cent levy on product sales. For 2023, the report says N39,895,325,313.49 was due to the fund and N13,345,910,069.01 was remitted and accounted for, a shortfall of N26,549,415,244.48 (page 743). For 2024, N102,240,025,003.61 was due and N89,299,713,930.80 was remitted, a shortfall of N12,940,311,072.81 (page 750). Both subtractions are correct. The fund's response to both queries was the same: reconciliation between the downstream regulator and petroleum marketers against debit notes was "ongoing", reconciliation between the fund and the regulator would follow, and it expected to report recoveries to the Auditor-General "by October 2025". The report rated both replies unsatisfactory.

Some labels in the report do not match its own text. The 2023 levy issue sits under a section heading covering 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2024, while its finding refers to the "2023 financial year". The 2024 levy issue is headed "revenue from 2024 sales of natural gas", while its finding speaks of petroleum products. Press reports of SERAP's letter repeat the headings. None of this changes the amounts.

The remaining items are payments made by the fund. It paid a consultant N3,517,519,273.00 in three instalments in March, April and May 2024 to recover gas flare penalties owed to the fund for August 2021 to May 2022 by the Office of the Accountant-General (page 746). The three vouchers re-add to that total; the issue heading prints N3,517,519,272.95. The contract set a fee of 5 per cent of N65,442,219,048.35 recovered, which is N3,272,110,952.42; the amount paid equals that fee plus 7.5 per cent, the rate of value added tax, to within a naira, though the report does not mention tax. The auditors cited a 2019 Treasury Circular barring revenue recovery on commission without the President's written approval, and said no such approval, due process file or evidence of reconciliation with the NUPRC, the Central Bank or the Accountant-General was produced. Management's printed response refers to an approval conveyed on 23 May 2023 and an attached appendix. The auditors rated it unsatisfactory, without saying whether the appendix was examined.

The fund also spent N261,851,719.18 on six legal, investment and transaction advisory payments in 2024; the auditors said no adviser reports or evidence of work were produced. Management said the papers were with the Governing Council's secretary, who had been on leave during the audit visit, and attached sample documents. A separate query concerns N65,800,000.00 for three advisory contracts awarded before the Bureau of Public Procurement's conditional "No Objection" of 17 July 2024; management cited council approval and the bureau's letter, and the auditors marked that response "deemed implemented". The report names no payee in either query. Three of the six advisory payments, all dated 15 August 2024, are N28,200,000.00, N23,500,000.00 and N14,100,000.00, which add to N65,800,000.00. If those are the same three contracts, SERAP's total counts N65.8 million twice and the distinct total is N94,358,885,534.65. The report does not say whether they are.

The report also records that the fund had not submitted audited accounts for 2022, 2023 or 2024, nor published them as section 52 of the Petroleum Industry Act requires. Management said those audits were concluded and awaiting sign-off. For each money item the recommendation takes the standard form: the Executive Director should account to the Public Accounts Committees of the National Assembly, recover and remit the sum, forward evidence of remittance, and otherwise face the sanctions set out in the Financial Regulations (2009).

The NUPRC's own section contains two queries, both smaller than anything in SERAP's list. The commission paid N6,724,150.00 in estacode and conference fees for officials from outside the commission to attend the 2023 Offshore Technology Conference in Houston; management said the spending related to oversight, and the auditors marked the response "deemed implemented". It also paid N722,925,581.38 to external solicitors without evidence of the Attorney-General's approval or competitive selection. Management said the Attorney-General had approved its framework for engaging and paying external solicitors by a letter of 29 November 2022. The auditors rated that unsatisfactory. SERAP's letter, as reported, does not cite either NUPRC query.

What the record supports is narrower than the word "diverted" in some headlines. It establishes that the Auditor-General's staff compared what the gas fund should have received with what it booked, and found gaps totalling N90,579,514,542.47 across the levy and the gas flare penalties for 2023 and 2024, and that they queried N3,845,170,992.18 of the fund's own spending for missing approvals or evidence of work. These are audit queries, partly answered by management and still open when the report was printed. They are not findings of theft, and the report does not say any court or anti-corruption agency has made one. On the levy, the fund's case on reconciliation is recorded but not tested in the report; on the 2024 flare penalties, its own figures do not bear out its reply.

The gas flare figures show the penalty pool rising from N140.54 billion reported for 2023 to N391.26 billion for 2024, which is why the shortfall matters to the fund: the Act lists environmental remediation and relief for host communities among its purposes, and the auditors named a shortage of money for that work as the risk. SERAP has asked the President to direct both bodies to account for the sums and to refer the findings to anti-corruption agencies, and says it will go to court if he does not act within seven days.

What this rests on

Auditor-General for the Federation, 2024 Annual Report on Non-compliance (Vol. II), section 17 (Treasury Audit Department), Midstream and Downstream Gas Infrastructure Fund, pp.742-755 (PDF pp.307-320), and section 20, NUPRC pp.773-775 (PDF pp.338-340); scanned PDF, read by OCR and checked against page images. Arithmetic: SERAP's seven items 26,549,415,244.48 + 12,479,683,553.87 + 3,517,519,273.00 + 38,610,104,671.31 + 12,940,311,072.81 + 261,851,719.18 + 65,800,000.00 = 94,424,685,534.65 (less 65,800,000.00 = 94,358,885,534.65). 2024 flare: twelve monthly receipts sum to 337,003,553,818.41; 391,264,227,593.46 x 0.04 = 15,650,569,103.74; 391,264,227,593.46 - 15,650,569,103.74 = 375,613,658,489.72; less 337,003,553,818.41 = 38,610,104,671.31. 2023 flare: 140,542,799,981.78 x 0.04 = 5,621,711,999.27; net 134,921,087,982.51; less 122,441,404,428.64 = 12,479,683,553.87; management gross 136,483,545,625.14 x 0.96 = 131,024,203,800.13, less 122,441,404,428.64 = 8,582,799,371.49; 140,542,799,981.78 - 136,483,545,625.14 = 4,059,254,356.64 (management's figure). Levy: 39,895,325,313.49 - 13,345,910,069.01 = 26,549,415,244.48; 102,240,025,003.61 - 89,299,713,930.80 = 12,940,311,072.81. Consultant: 1,367,519,273.00 + 1,075,000,000.00 + 1,075,000,000.00 = 3,517,519,273.00; 5% of 65,442,219,048.35 = 3,272,110,952.42; x 1.075 = 3,517,519,273.85. Advisers: 141,000,000.00 + 31,551,719.18 + 28,200,000.00 + 23,500,000.00 + 23,500,000.00 + 14,100,000.00 = 261,851,719.18; 28,200,000 + 23,500,000 + 14,100,000 = 65,800,000. Revenue gaps 26,549,415,244.48 + 12,940,311,072.81 + 12,479,683,553.87 + 38,610,104,671.31 = 90,579,514,542.47; spending queries 3,517,519,273.00 + 261,851,719.18 + 65,800,000.00 = 3,845,170,992.18; together 94,424,685,534.65. NUPRC queries 6,724,150.00 + 722,925,581.38 = 729,649,731.38.

What this does not establish

The report does not establish that any money was stolen or diverted; these are audit queries with management responses. It does not say where the N38.61bn and N12.48bn flare penalty differences are (with the NUPRC, with the Accountant-General, or a timing difference) and prints no NUPRC response on them. It does not show the auditors' working for rejecting the fund's 43 kobo reply, nor whether the appendix said to contain a 23 May 2023 approval for the consultant was examined. It names no consultant, solicitor or adviser, and does not say whether the N65.8m contracts are among the N261.85m payments. That the consultant figure includes VAT is an inference from the arithmetic. The fund's audited accounts for 2022 to 2024 were not available. Vero Record did not obtain SERAP's letter itself; its contents and date are taken from press reports of 3 and 4 October 2026, and the 7 August 2026 publication date is SERAP's. The PDF was obtained earlier from the Auditor-General's site and its exact download URL was not re-checked today.