Nigeria’s Senate has rejected conflicting records of petrol imports reported by two major petroleum agencies, summoning their heads and the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) to explain discrepancies involving billions of litres.
The Senate Committee on Public Accounts reached the decision on Wednesday, October 21, 2026, after rejecting the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority’s (NMDPRA) explanation for differences between its figures and those of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).
The PUNCH reported on October 21, 2026, that the discrepancies emerged during the committee’s review of queries raised in NEITI’s Oil and Gas Industry Audit Report covering 2021 to 2023.
According to the figures presented before the lawmakers, NMDPRA recorded 3.29 billion litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), commonly known as petrol, imported in 2022 and 6.02 billion litres in 2023.
NNPCL’s records, however, showed 6.27 billion litres for 2022 and 3.88 billion litres for 2023.
The figures indicate a difference of 2.98 billion litres between the agencies’ records for 2022 and 2.14 billion litres for 2023. The conflicting records also show opposite trends, with NMDPRA reporting a higher import volume in 2023 than in 2022, while NNPCL recorded a decline.
Appearing before the committee, NMDPRA Deputy Director Uzoamaka Ugwu-Ojobe defended the authority’s figures, describing the differences as slight and saying they were being examined for possible reconciliation.
However, Senator Abdul Ningi, representing Bauchi Central, rejected that description, arguing that the variations were too substantial to be treated as minor discrepancies.
Senator Dayo Faduyile, representing Ondo South, also questioned the reliability of the records, while Senator Anietan Bassey, representing Akwa Ibom North-East, called for a thorough investigation to determine whether Nigerians had been shortchanged.
Following the exchange, the committee, chaired by Senator Hassan Dankwambo, resolved to summon the heads of NMDPRA, NNPCL and NEITI for a joint meeting to explain the conflicting figures and establish the reasons for the differences.
NEITI’s audit findings have previously highlighted discrepancies in the agencies’ petrol import records. A report published by THISDAY on October 1, 2024, said NEITI had called for continuous and post-importation independent audits of petroleum quantities and landing costs to improve verification of imported volumes.
The Senate committee’s latest action places renewed scrutiny on the accuracy of Nigeria’s petroleum import data. The planned meeting is expected to provide an opportunity for the three agencies to reconcile their records and clarify the source of the discrepancies.
The committee has not established whether the differences resulted from reporting errors, variations in data collection or deliberate wrongdoing. No finding of fraud has been announced.
