NEITI's audit put royalties and gas flare penalties owed to the upstream regulator at US$6.05 billion and N65.9 billion; that is the record the Senate is questioning

On 3 October 2026 TheCable ran a report headlined "Inside the Senate's oil audit: billions unpaid, funds unaccounted for as agencies face tough questions". Vero Record could not retrieve the article itself: the site returned a security block and the obvious address for the headline returned a not found page. What can be retrieved is the record the Senate has said it is examining. Since 3 August 2026 the Senate Committee on Public Accounts, chaired by Senator Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo, has been holding hearings on the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative's oil and gas industry reports for 2021, 2022 and 2023. The most recent of those reports is public, and Vero Record downloaded and read it.

The document is the 137 page "Final Report, Oil and Gas Industry Audit 2023", dated September 2024 and published on the international EITI website. It was prepared by an Independent Administrator engaged by NEITI to reconcile what companies say they paid against what government agencies say they received. Its section 5.5, on page 73, is headed "Outstanding Liabilities". That table is the clearest primary source for the phrase "billions unpaid".

The table lists what companies owed the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) as at 31 August 2024: US$5,017,779,729 in oil royalty, US$153,211,170 in gas royalty, N65,885,079,249 in gas royalty owed in naira, US$861,947,470 in gas flare penalties and US$17,015,605 in concession rent. The four dollar lines add to US$6,049,953,974, which is the subtotal the table prints. Oil royalty is 82.9 per cent of that dollar subtotal; gas flare penalties are 14.2 per cent.

The same table lists what was owed to the Federal Inland Revenue Service as at 30 June 2024, two months earlier: US$13,211,754 of petroleum profit tax, US$1,553,648 and N65,992,860 of company income tax, US$482,190 of education tax, US$2,511,107 and N194,395,225 of value added tax, US$4,168,183 and N229,039,364 of withholding tax, and N3,345,000 under "LRP". Those parts add to US$21,926,882 and N492,772,449, the printed subtotals. The grand totals, US$6,071,880,856 and N66,377,851,698, also add correctly. The NUPRC share is 99.6 per cent of the dollar total.

The report's own summary sentence above the table describes the total as "US$ 6. 175 billion comprising US$6.072 billion and N66.378 billion (equivalent of US$ 102. 765)". The word "million" is missing after 102.765, and the report does not state the exchange rate it used; the conversion implies roughly N646 to the dollar. The table also adds amounts measured on two different dates. The report sets the figure against US$8.264 billion of liabilities in its 2021 cycle, a fall of about US$2.09 billion.

The amounts are debts as recorded by the collecting agencies. The report does not give a company by company breakdown of the US$6.05 billion in this table, and it does not say how old the debts are. In its follow up of earlier recommendations, on page 110, the Independent Administrator wrote that "at the time of reporting, there was no evidence of a comprehensive investigation into the timeliness of liability payments", and recommended that revenue agencies consider involving the Federal Ministry of Justice "to address perpetual debt situations".

On the NUPRC's own books, the report records two weaknesses on page 129. Companies were paying into collection accounts "not designated for the revenue type, making a bulk payment for royalty, concession rent and gas flare into the royalty account", and there was "non-availability of comprehensive signed-off reports for liabilities". The auditor rated this "Partial Compliance" and warned that without signed off reports there could be a "lack of basis acknowledging the liabilities in the event of litigation". The column for the entity's response is blank in the published table. The report recommends that the NUPRC issue demand notes to every company with outstanding liabilities quarterly and annually.

NNPC Limited's position appears on page 61. The report says NNPC "claimed that reconciliation is ongoing with the NUPRC to ascertain any 2023 outstanding liabilities. However, NUPRC is yet to confirm this position." It separately lists US$243.74 million of 2023 taxes and levies NNPC owed (US$69.88 million company income tax, US$159.92 million education tax, US$13.66 million to NASENI and US$0.27 million Police Trust levy), down from US$587.12 million in 2022. NNPC told the auditor it had applied to offset the income tax with Tax Waivers Scheme credits and that other payments were in process; the report says FIRS had yet to confirm that. These NNPC tax figures are a different measure from the FIRS lines in the page 73 table and should not be added to them.

The record also supports the agencies on one point. The reconciliation table on page 72 shows that, after adjustments, company and government figures for 2023 royalty agree almost to the dollar: US$3,624,043,368 for oil royalty on both sides, and a US$1 difference on gas royalty of about US$2.055 billion. Gas flare penalties paid in 2023 reconciled at US$202,118,010 reported by companies against US$202,228,892 recorded by government, a difference of US$110,882. The gaps found in 2023 payments were largely closed in reconciliation; the outstanding liabilities are a separate matter of money not yet paid.

Companies have contested some figures before the committee. At the hearing reported on 12 August 2026, Dubri Oil Company Limited disputed a US$3.025 million debt attributed to it in NEITI material, said to be US$2.378 million for gas flare and US$646,605.55 for royalty, and said it had been settled through reconciliation with the NUPRC; the committee said it would check the papers against NUPRC records. Those Dubri figures do not appear in the 2023 report Vero Record read, and press accounts describe them as a NUPRC submission made in 2025. The same day the committee gave Seplat Energy, Network E&P Nigeria Limited, All Grace Energy Limited and Aradel Energy Limited 48 hours to appear. A query from the committee, or a line in a NEITI liabilities table, is not a finding of wrongdoing.

What the documents do not establish is as important. No Senate committee report, Votes and Proceedings entry or transcript of these hearings has been published that Vero Record could find, so the specific amounts and phrases in TheCable's 3 October report cannot be tied to a Senate document. The NEITI report for 2024 has not been published, so no primary figure for unpaid royalties or gas flare penalties after 31 August 2024 is available; the debts may since have been paid down, reconciled away or grown. By 4 October 2026 the NEITI figures are 764 days old.

What this rests on

NEITI Oil and Gas Industry Audit 2023, p.73: NUPRC dollar lines 5,017,779,729 + 153,211,170 + 861,947,470 + 17,015,605 = 6,049,953,974 (printed subtotal). FIRS dollar lines 13,211,754 + 1,553,648 + 482,190 + 2,511,107 + 4,168,183 = 21,926,882; naira 65,992,860 + 194,395,225 + 229,039,364 + 3,345,000 = 492,772,449 (printed). Totals 6,049,953,974 + 21,926,882 = 6,071,880,856; 65,885,079,249 + 492,772,449 = 66,377,851,698 (printed). Shares: 5,017,779,729 / 6,049,953,974 = 82.9%; 861,947,470 / 6,049,953,974 = 14.2%; 6,049,953,974 / 6,071,880,856 = 99.6%. Implied rate 66,377,851,698 / 102,765,000 = about N646 per US$. 8.264 - 6.175 = 2.089 billion fall. p.61: 69.88 + 159.92 + 13.66 + 0.27 = 243.73 against printed 243.74 (rounding); 587.12 - 243.74 = 343.38 (printed). p.72: 202,228,892 - 202,118,010 = 110,882. Days 31 Aug 2024 to 4 Oct 2026: 122 days to 31 Dec 2024, 365 in 2025, 277 in 2026 to 4 Oct = 764.

What this does not establish

The content of TheCable's 3 October 2026 article, which could not be retrieved; its figures are not tested here.,Any Senate committee report, Votes and Proceedings entry or hearing transcript; none found published.,Who owes the US$6.05 billion company by company, and how old the debts are; the 2023 report gives no breakdown.,Whether any of the August 2024 liabilities have since been paid or reconciled; NEITI's 2024 report is unpublished.,The Dubri Oil US$3.025 million figure and its claimed settlement; not in the 2023 report.,The exchange rate NEITI used to convert N66.378 billion to US$102.765 million.,Any wrongdoing by any agency or company; queries and liabilities tables are not findings of crime.