A review of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited’s (NNPCL) financial statements has shown that its subsidiaries accumulated short-term debts amounting to N83 billion in 2022.
According to NNPCL’s December 2022 financial statements, Nikorma Transport’s trade and other payables stood at N4.5 billion, West Africa LPG Limited’s trade payables were N79.2 billion, and Hyson Nigeria Limited’s payables totaled N15 million.
West Africa LPG Limited, which operates as a vehicle for the offtake, marketing, and trading of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), identifies itself as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the NNPC and Ocean Bed Trading Limited on its website.
In total, these subsidiaries accumulated debts of N83 billion.
The financial statements further indicate that these organizations posted losses.
The NNPC noted that it could not realize any profit from Nikorma Transport and West Africa LPG due to their accumulated losses exceeding the profit posted by the NNPC subsidiaries.
For instance, the NNPC group share of profit for West Africa LPG was N807 million, while its accumulated loss as of June 2022 was N1 billion.
In another significant development, the NNPC spent N7 billion on entertainment expenses over the 16-month period documented in the December 2022 financial record.
This spending has raised concerns about accountability within the NNPC, with calls for the organization to publish its financial statements.
Despite 2024 being in its seventh month, the NNPC has yet to publish its 2023 financial statements. Additionally, SaharaReporters noted that the NNPC wrote off debts amounting to N140 billion between 2019 and 2021.
One NNPCL subsidiary even extended loans worth N2 billion to employees despite recording zero profit in 2021.
Previous financial statements show NNPC funding loss-making subsidiaries amid operational concerns.
This development also coincides with the NNPCL obtaining various crude-backed loans. In 2023, the NNPC Limited secured a $3 billion crude-backed loan.
The Nigerian Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI) had accused the NNPCL of failing to remit N2.8 trillion in taxes to the government coffers in 2022.
