Nigeria earned $23.04bn from oil and gas in 2021

Lagos — Nigerian earned a total revenue of $23.046 billion from the oil and gas sector in 2021, according to the Nigerian Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative, NEITI, 2021 Oil and Gas Industry Report.

The report was released at an event in Abuja attended, among others,  by lawmakers, oil and gas industry operators and civil society organisations.

The report showed that $23.046 billion realised from the sector in 2021 was about 13 per cent higher than the corresponding total of $20.43 billion earned in 2020.

A breakdown of the earnings showed that about $8.67 billion, or 37.6 percent of the revenue was realised from the sale of crude oil and gas; $13.37 billion, or 58.02 per cent from taxes and other specific revenue flows, and $1.01 billion, or 4.38 per cent, went into payments to sub-national entities.

According to the report, an analysis of the total revenue showed unremitted revenues and quasi-fiscal expenditure by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company, NNPC, of $1.95 billion (8.47 per cent) and $6.93 billion (30.08 per cent) respectively.

Transfers to the federation amounted to $13.2 billion (57.27 per cent), while sub-national payments totalled $963.63 million or 4.18 per cent, the report stated.

Available revenue for sharing by the federating units after the deductions and in accordance with the revenue allocation formula was $13.2 billion which represented 57.27 per cent of the total revenue collected. This was lower than the 71.7 percent shared in 2020, it added.

The report also indicated that a total of 47 oil companies and the NNPC failed to remit $8.26 billion in revenue to the federation account, the amount being collectible revenues due to the Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Commission, NUPRC, and Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS.

While the NNPC owed $6.9 billion, the 47 oil companies owed $ 1.34 billion.

Of these debts, $13.591 million was payable to the FIRS as of July 31, 2023 while NUPRC had outstanding tax collectible revenues of $8.251 billion as of December 31, 2022.

While giving highlights of the report, the Executive Secretary of NEITI, Dr. Ogbonnaya Orji, said the document provided an update on the financial liabilities of the NNPC and other companies in the sector to the federation.

He said the information and data in the report paid special attention to helping the government at all levels to shore up revenue, support national development and poverty reduction through resource mobilisation.

According to him, while there were concerted efforts last year by the National Assembly to recover some of the outstanding revenues, the 2021 figures showed an increase over figures in the 2o20 report.