Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde wants an accounting of Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG) dividends after his office alleged states and local councils were owed money, sharpening a dispute over federal revenue.
The office puts the alleged amount at roughly ₦9 trillion. In an Oct. 18 statement, Sulaimon Olanrewaju, special adviser on media to the Oyo State governor, said a consultant hired by the Nigeria Governors’ Forum with federal support reached that figure. He also said the federal government accepted the finding. Both the finding and the claimed acceptance are unverified; the statement provides neither the consultant’s report nor the period and method behind its calculation.
Makinde separately alleged that ₦250 billion due to each of Nigeria’s 36 states would be withheld until after the 2027 elections. Bayo Onanuga, special adviser to the president on information and strategy, denied the withholding claim in an Oct. 18 response.
Onanuga said states receive 26.72% of distributable Federation Account revenue. On that basis, he calculated that paying ₦250 billion to every state would require a single NLNG dividend declaration exceeding ₦33.68 trillion, or about $25 billion. He put the federation’s NLNG dividend receipts since President Bola Tinubu took office at less than $3 billion, against about $21.5 billion over 25 years.
The presidency’s calculation tests a single payment to states. Oyo’s alleged ₦9 trillion shortfall covers states and local councils over an unspecified period, so the two figures do not resolve how much, if anything, is owed.
The government holds 49% of NLNG through Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Limited). The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) recorded $849.314 million in NLNG dividends received by NNPC on the federation’s behalf in 2023 and deposited in an NNPC-designated account. That audit does not trace the receipt to individual states or councils.
A NEITI audit of 2021 found that $722.596 million in NLNG dividends and interest had not been remitted to the Federation Account at the time covered by that audit. It does not establish whether the amount remains outstanding. Testing Oyo’s claim would require records tracing dividends from NNPC through the Federation Account to states and councils.
