A newly-surfaced audit report has alleged large-scale financial impropriety involving the Managing Director of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDRA), Engr. Farouk Ahmed, accusing him of personally diverting over ₦120 billion under questionable categories labeled as “Regular” and “Non-Regular Allowances.”
The report, which has triggered growing calls for a full investigation, paints a troubling picture of unchecked financial disbursements at the top level of Nigeria’s oil and gas regulatory body.
According to the document, Farouk Ahmed received ₦10.4 billion in 2021 under the classification of “Regular Allowance.” That figure reportedly quadrupled to ₦40.3 billion in 2023. Most shocking, however, is the ₦72.1 billion earmarked for him under the same heading in the 2025 financial year.
The audit also uncovers irregularities in “Non-Regular Allowances.” In 2021, Farouk allegedly collected ₦13.2 billion, despite the agency’s budget allocating only ₦10.7 billion to that line item. In 2023, he reportedly accessed ₦11.7 billion of the ₦18.3 billion budgeted. For 2025, the MD is said to have budgeted an additional ₦25 billion under the same vague allowance category.
Further raising eyebrows, the report indicates that the NMDRA MD spent nearly ₦1 billion on local travel in a single year—an amount many experts say is grossly inflated, especially within the context of Nigeria’s current economic challenges.
In response to the allegations, transparency advocates and civil society organizations are calling for immediate intervention by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). They are demanding a forensic review of all expenditures by the NMDRA, especially under the controversial allowance headings.
“There appears to be systematic financial abuse cloaked as official entitlements,” said a senior anti-corruption advocate familiar with the report. “The EFCC must act swiftly to investigate and ensure that public resources are not being siphoned without accountability.”