Nigeria’s petroleum revenue accounts have recorded a combined N211.74bn from frontier exploration funds and gas-flaring penalties following President Bola Tinubu’s executive order aimed at improving oil revenue remittances to the Federation Account.
The development comes about six months after Tinubu signed Executive Order 9 of 2026 to reduce deductions from petroleum earnings and ensure more revenue is available for sharing among the Federal Government, states and local governments.
Records from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, presented at a meeting of the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC), showed that the Frontier Exploration Fund accumulated N106.75bn between February and September 2026, while N104.98bn in gas-flaring penalties was transferred into a FAAC withheld escrow account between February and October.
The records also showed that N92.59bn in Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) management fees was distributed to the three tiers of government on October 12.
Tinubu signed the executive order on February 13 to address what the government described as revenue leakages caused by excessive deductions and overlapping funds within the petroleum industry.
The directive suspended NNPC Ltd’s 30 per cent management fee and 30 per cent Frontier Exploration Fund deductions from profit oil and profit gas under specified production-sharing contracts. It also halted the remittance of gas-flaring penalties to the Midstream and Downstream Gas Infrastructure Fund.
The government said the measures were intended to strengthen transparency and ensure petroleum revenues due to the Federation were available for distribution in line with constitutional provisions.
However, the latest records show that funds continued to accumulate in the affected accounts after the order took effect, raising questions about how the directive has been implemented.
The Frontier Exploration Fund recorded its highest monthly inflow of N36.40bn in March before receipts declined in subsequent months. In September, inflows rose to N14.16bn from N6.90bn in August, increasing the cumulative balance to N106.75bn.
The management-fee account recorded a similar pattern, with N92.59bn distributed to the three tiers of government before another N14.16bn was entered as September management fees on October 14.
The documents did not clarify whether the continuing receipts represented new deductions, delayed accounting entries, recoveries or transactions arising from transitional arrangements.
They also did not explain why the frontier exploration and management-fee accounts recorded identical monthly figures and cumulative balances.
When the implementation arrangements were announced in February, former Finance Minister Wale Edun said NNPC Ltd would stop collecting the specified management fees and frontier exploration deductions with immediate effect. Transfers of gas-flaring penalties to the designated infrastructure fund were also suspended.
Tinubu had argued that retaining petroleum earnings through multiple deductions and special funds reduced the revenue available for public spending and development across the three tiers of government.
The latest figures have renewed attention on the accounting of petroleum revenues and the need for clarification on the implementation of the executive order.
