The executive order issued by President Bola Tinubu stopping the deduction of management fees and the Frontier Exploration Fund by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has effectively halted revenue streams that generated about N2.076tn in four years.
An analysis of monthly earnings submitted to the Federation Account Allocation Committee and obtained by our correspondent in Abuja on Wednesday revealed that the national oil company received N20.739bn from the deductions in 2022, N695.9bn in 2023, N452.6bn in 2024, and N906.91bn in 2025, bringing the total to about N2.1tn between 2022 and 2025.
This development followed the President’s directive that all revenues due to the federation must be remitted in full, without prior deductions, in line with constitutional fiscal provisions and transparency reforms in the oil and gas sector.
The order, which prioritizes constitutional fiscal provisions governing the Federation Account over certain operational funding arrangements under the Petroleum Industry Act, specifically halts automatic deductions such as management fees and contributions to the Frontier Exploration Fund from oil and gas revenues before remittance, insisting that all earnings must first be paid into the Federation Account in line with the Constitution.
The move has sparked varying reactions. State governments and fiscal transparency advocates have welcomed the order, saying it will boost distributable revenues, strengthen accountability, and address longstanding concerns about opaque deductions. However, industry players and legal analysts warn that the order could create tensions between statutory provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act and constitutional fiscal rules, potentially leading to policy uncertainty.
