The Executive Chairman of the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS), Zacch Adedeji, has denied allegations linking him and the agency to an alleged $279 million irregular movement of funds from Nigeria’s Frontier Exploration Fund.
Adedeji described the allegation as false and sponsored, insisting that neither he nor the NRS was involved in any illegal transfer from the fund.
The controversy followed a report alleging that $279 million was moved from the Frontier Exploration Fund to unidentified accounts, with claims that Adedeji and the NRS were aware of the transaction.
The report also suggested that the alleged transfer had triggered calls from stakeholders for a forensic examination of the fund’s accounts.
However, reacting to the allegations, Adedeji dismissed the report as “pure fake news,” accusing unnamed individuals of attempting to discredit officials of the President Bola Tinubu administration.
“That report is not true in any way. It is pure fake news sponsored by some jobless persons whose pastime is to throw mud at high performers in the President Tinubu government,” he said.
The NRS chairman also questioned the professionalism of the publications, describing them as lacking in ethics and driven by what he called malicious intentions.
“I consider it to be a brand of cheap journalism lacking in ethics and professionalism but heavy with malicious intentions,” Adedeji said.
He further alleged that the reports were part of a coordinated campaign, arguing that similarities in their language and presentation suggested that the stories originated from the same source.
“To prove to you that it was sponsored, take a critical look at the storyline and language. They are the same language and style in all the reports, meaning that one person wrote it and distributed across gullible online platforms,” he added.
Addressing the issues surrounding the Frontier Exploration Fund, Adedeji explained that the fund was established under Section 9 of the Petroleum Industry Act, 2021, to support petroleum exploration activities in Nigeria’s frontier basins.
He said the fund was designed to finance exploration in areas where commercially viable hydrocarbon reserves had not yet been fully established.
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According to him, the frontier basins include the Bida, Benue Trough, Anambra, Chad, Sokoto and Dahomey basins.
He added that legitimate expenditure from the fund could cover geological mapping, seismic surveys, exploratory drilling, appraisal wells and basin studies, among other exploration activities.
The NRS chairman’s denial comes amid heightened scrutiny of public finances and the management of oil and gas-related funds.
However, the information available does not independently establish whether the alleged $279 million transfer occurred or whether a forensic audit of the Frontier Exploration Fund has been ordered.
Adedeji maintained that the allegations were baseless and part of an attempt to undermine his office and the Federal Government.
