Fresh details have emerged that challenge the widespread belief that the Federal Government recently wiped out the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited’s (NNPC Limited) multitrillion-naira debt. An investigation by VERITAS MEDIA reveals that what the government wrote off was only the accumulated interest, not the principal debt itself, contradicting reports that the entire liability had been erased.
A top NNPC official with direct knowledge of the reconciliation process, who spoke in confidence, said the public had been misled by the framing of earlier reports.
“It was the interest that was removed, not the debt. The principal remains very much on the books,” the official insisted. “This is a government-to-government obligation. So, cancelling interest that accumulated over many years is not the same as forgiving the debt itself.”
Earlier this month, documents circulated suggesting that about ₦5.57 trillion and $1.42 billion in legacy liabilities had been completely written off following a reconciliation between NNPC Limited, the Federal Ministry of Finance, and the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation. But internal sources say that interpretation is inaccurate and that the reconciliation focused specifically on long-standing interest charges tied to: disputed remittances, delayed cost-recovery settlements, unresolved upstream royalties, and historic cash-call obligations.
According to the official, many of these obligations were never commercial debts in the traditional sense, but inter-agency fiscal entries, where compounding interest had distorted the true level of exposure.
“How can government keep charging itself interest on intra-government entries that were still under reconciliation? It inflated the numbers. What was removed was the interest. The real obligations are still there,” he clarified.
Investigations found that years of fiscal opacity within the old NNPC structure allowed interest on disputed figures to accumulate without anyone taking responsibility. Different administrations recorded the liabilities differently, leading to inconsistent books and inflated totals. By the time the new reconciliation committee intervened, some of the interest entries were based on outdated assumptions, unverified cost-recovery disputes, and penalty charges carried forward without audit confirmation.
A senior official familiar with the reconciliation described the interest portion as “legacy noise that made the real numbers ungovernable.”
Despite public impressions, NNPC Limited still carries substantial outstanding obligations. Sources say these debts will now be settled through: upstream revenue flows, crude-for-cash arrangements, internal restructuring under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), and enhanced commercial operations under the new CAMA-driven corporate structure. No official timeline for repayment has, however, been disclosed, and the figures remain politically sensitive.
The revelation that only interest, not principal, was forgiven raises tough questions: Who allowed interest to accumulate unchecked for decades? How accurate were the original liability figures? Why was the public led to believe the entire debt was cancelled? Who benefits from the perception of a full bailout?
VERITAS MEDIA investigations suggest that without full transparency, Nigeria risks repeating the same accounting practices that created the opaque fiscal ecosystem in which such massive interest liabilities could grow unnoticed.
The Federal Government has not formally addressed the distinction between interest write-offs and debt forgiveness. Meanwhile, NNPC Limited has yet to publish a detailed breakdown of the reconciled figures. But insiders insist the clarification is necessary to protect the integrity of ongoing reforms.
“People must not think NNPC Limited got a blanket bailout,” the official said. “Nothing like that happened.”
As VERITAS MEDIA continues its investigation, one thing is clear: the real story of NNPC Limited’s legacy debt is more complicated, and far more revealing, than the public was initially told.
