Hot Source*No agreement on $78.2m, N6.7tn outstanding payments yet
Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja
Nigeria’s Federation Account received a major inflow of N1.49 trillion in the first half of 2025 from arrears reconciled and paid by the country’s revenue generating agencies, fresh data from the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) has shown.
A report by the FAAC Post-Mortem Sub-Committee (PMSC), which reviews remittances from key agencies, indicated that the cumulative inflows into the Federation Account between January and June 2025 came from reconciled outstanding arrears previously owed by key agencies.
These included: The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), and other statutory bodies.
According to the report seen by THISDAY, the total arrears inflows amounted to exactly N1,490,778,578,480.61 over the six-month period, averaging over N248 billion monthly and providing additional fiscal space for the government at a time of government’s mounting debt service obligations.
The figures released showed that in January 2025, reconciled arrears worth N367.37 billion were remitted to the Federation Account, the highest single-month inflow during the period. This was followed by N227.15 billion in February and N175.99 billion in March. In April, arrears payment rose to N259.85 billion, before dropping to N247.05 billion in May and N213.37 billion in June.
Specifically for June 2025, FAAC recorded a reconciled arrears payment of $41.07 million, equivalent to N213.37 billion at the official Central Bank exchange rate of N1528.705 as well as local currency reconciliation of N150.589 billion.
This payment included $5.19 million (N7.92 billion) from the FIRS in respect of Petroleum Profit Tax value arrears; $35.43 million (N54.15 billion) from NUPRC’s royalty value arrears, and $459,226 (N702.9 million) from NNPC joint venture outstanding royalty. The N150.59 billion came from NUPRC on other royalty receipts.
But while the N1.49 trillion inflows were welcomed as a boost to the Federation Account, the FAAC report warned that much larger sums remained outstanding.
At the inter-agency reconciliation meeting held in August 2025, additional outstanding amounts undergoing reconciliation were put at $78.23 million and another N1.72 trillion from FIRS/NNPC and another N2.32 trillion, to hit 6.75 trillion.
The bulk of this figure was attributed to the NNPC, which accounted for $11.24 million and N164.7billion, and NUPRC/NNPC jointly, which made up $66.99 million.
In the same vein, FIRS/NNPC reconciliation added N1.72 trillion, while other government agencies owed N2.03 trillion, to hit $78.2 million and N6.7 trillion, which had yet to be reconciled.
Beyond these, arrears of about N2.54 trillion from before June 2023 are still unresolved, the document showed. These older payments have now been referred to the Stakeholders Alignment Committee and the FAAC Sub-Committee for further reconciliation.
“Members should note that the above outstanding amounts are still being reconciled at the monthly reconciliation meetings between the agencies and the Sub-Committee.
“Furthermore, the sum of N2,535,352,533,190.87 outstanding payments from the revenue generating agencies before June, 2023, were referred to the Stakeholders Alignment Committee and the sub-committee awaits the outcome of the technical reconciliation meeting conveyed by the Ministry of Finance. All outstanding between January 2023 and December 2024 was taken to the Alignment Committee,” the report reiterated.
The reconciliation exercise is part of government efforts to improve accountability in the management of public finances and close loopholes in remittances by revenue generating agencies.
For years, FAAC allocations to the federal, state, and local governments have been undermined by remittances underpayments, with NNPC especially frequently accused by states and civil society groups of withholding funds or making delayed remittances.
In the past, FAAC meetings have ended in deadlock over disagreements about what NNPC declares as gross revenue and the deductions it made for subsidy, pipeline repairs, and joint venture obligations before passing the balance to the Federation Account.
The issue worsened in 2022 and 2023, when huge amounts were carried as unremitted arrears. The ongoing reconciliation exercise seeks to address those backlogs, ensuring that revenues due to the Federation are captured and distributed among the three tiers of government.
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