There is a cloud of uncertainty surrounding $62 billion outstanding taxes and royalties owed Nigeria by operating major oil companies in the country. The federal government had in 2019 taken the step to recover as much as $62 billion (£50.6bn) from international oil companies using a 2018 Supreme Court ruling which, it said, enabled it to increase its share of income from production-sharing contracts (PSCs). The move was in line with the present administration’s commitment to bolster revenue after a drop in the output and price of oil which is Nigeria’s main export. LEADERSHIP learnt that government was compelled to demand the money after realising that the energy companies failed to comply with a 1993 contract-law requirement that the country receive a greater share of revenue when oil price exceeds $20 per barrel. Subsequently, the attorney-general’s office and the justice ministry presented the demand for payment through […]