Six months after President Bola Tinubu issued Executive Order 9 to overhaul Nigeria's petroleum revenue management, government records show that N211.74 billion has built up in frontier exploration and gas-flaring penalty accounts, according to figures from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation. The data, presented at a Federation Account Allocation Committee meeting in September, also revealed that N92.59 billion in Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited management fees was distributed to the Federal Government, states and local governments in October.
The President signed the order on 13 February 2026 to end what the government described as structural revenue leakages. It suspended NNPC Limited's 30 per cent management fee and 30 per cent Frontier Exploration Fund deductions from profit oil and profit gas under certain petroleum contracts, and halted remittance of gas-flaring penalties into the Midstream and Downstream Gas Infrastructure Fund. The directive aimed to strengthen revenue transparency and ensure petroleum earnings flowed to the Federation Account for constitutional distribution. President Tinubu stated that excessive deductions, overlapping funds and structural distortions had weakened remittances and that this practice must end.
The frontier exploration fund ledger recorded cumulative receipts of N106.75 billion between February and September 2026, while the gas-flaring penalty ledger showed N104.98 billion transferred into a withheld escrow account between February and October. Combined, the two accounts totalled N211.74 billion, with no payments listed against the frontier exploration balance and no payments recorded against the gas-flaring penalty ledger during this period. Monthly receipts into both accounts increased from N4.82 billion in February to N14.16 billion in September, though inflows fluctuated considerably. March recorded the highest monthly receipts at N36.40 billion, a 655.3 per cent increase from February.
The management-fee ledger recorded cumulative receipts of N92.59 billion between February and August before the entire amount was paid to the three tiers of government on 12 October. A new balance of N14.16 billion in management fees for September was recorded on 14 October. The data raises questions about whether receipts represent new deductions, delayed accounting entries, recoveries or amounts accruing under transitional arrangements, as the identical monthly entries and cumulative balances in the frontier exploration and management-fee ledgers warrant clarification, according to the technical sub-committee's report dated 14 October.
For savers and government agencies awaiting increased oil revenue distributions, the accumulation of N211.74 billion in dedicated accounts rather than immediate distribution to the Federation Account suggests delays in realising the full benefit of the executive order's intended revenue boost.