Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has recovered more than ₦115 billion and $84 million in unpaid statutory levies that oil companies owed to the Niger Delta Development Commission, bringing fresh scrutiny to revenue leakages in the country’s oil industry.
The recovery follows investigations arising from the 2021-2023 Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) oil and gas audit reports, which flagged unresolved financial obligations among companies operating in the sector.
EFCC disclosed the figures before the Senate Public Accounts Committee, which is investigating outstanding payments and other issues the NEITI audits identified.
24 Oil Companies Had Outstanding Levies ,Francis Usani, who represented the EFCC before the Senate committee, said the agency investigated 43 oil companies after the audit reports raised concerns.
Investigators found outstanding liabilities at 24 companies operating in the Niger Delta, while the remaining 19 cleared their obligations. The initial liabilities among the 24 companies stood at approximately ₦76.88 billion and $81.08 million.
EFCC’s intervention prompted some companies to pay the NDDC directly, while the agency recovered additional amounts itself, Usani said. He told lawmakers that affected companies subsequently paid ₦6.71 billion and $16.99 million directly following the investigation.
The outstanding payments relate mainly to the three-percent statutory levy that companies owe the NDDC, which funds development programmes in Nigeria’s oil-producing region.The EFCC has already released ₦73.37 billion and $67.07 million from recovered funds to the NDDC.
The figures matter because lawmakers established the NDDC to fund infrastructure and development programmes across the Niger Delta, the region that produces most of Nigeria’s crude oil but has faced decades of environmental degradation and infrastructure deficits.
The recovery also shows the financial impact audit findings can have when regulators act on discrepancies uncovered in Nigeria’s extractive industries.
Usani said the EFCC’s investigation focused primarily on unpaid NDDC levies, but he stressed that companies may still owe other statutory obligations to the federal government.That could widen the scope of scrutiny as lawmakers examine whether similar revenue gaps exist elsewhere in the oil industry.
Lawmakers rejected an attempt by TotalEnergies EP Nigeria Limited to send a representative instead and ordered its managing director to appear before the committee.The committee also gave the managing directors of South Atlantic Petroleum, Oando Oil, Famfa Oil and Green Energy International another chance to appear and respond to outstanding queries.
The committee has warned that it could invoke the National Assembly’s constitutional powers if companies fail to honour its invitations
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What This Means for Nigeria’s Oil Industry
Beyond the size of the recovery, the investigation exposes a deeper issue: Nigeria can lose substantial revenue when statutory payments go untracked and unenforced.
The NDDC levy isn’t a discretionary contribution from oil companies. It forms part of the statutory financing structure designed to channel money from oil operations back into the Niger Delta.
When those payments stay outstanding, the financial consequence goes beyond government revenue. Projects meant to improve roads, healthcare, education and other infrastructure in oil-producing communities may also face funding gaps.
The Senate investigation therefore creates pressure for stronger reconciliation between what oil companies must pay, what government agencies record as received, and what independent audits identify as outstanding.
The EFCC recovery also shows the growing importance of NEITI audits in catching discrepancies within an industry that generates a major share of Nigeria’s foreign-exchange earnings and public revenue.
For regulators, though, recovering money years after it falls due solves only part of the problem. A stronger system would identify and collect statutory obligations when they fall due, rather than relying on anti-corruption investigations to recover them later.
With the Senate still reviewing the 2021, 2022 and 2023 NEITI reports, the ₦115 billion and $84 million recovery may not mark the end of the scrutiny facing Nigeria’s oil companies.