Nigeria's SERAP sues NNPCL over missing funds

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has filed a lawsuit against the Nigerian National Petroleum Co. Ltd (NNPCL) for the state-owned company’s failure to account for NGN500bn ($316.4mn), which it failed to submit to the federation account in late 2024, according to Punch.

SERAP also submitted a freedom of information request, however, NNPCL lawyers claimed the demand was invalid.

In addition to filing the suit, SERAP also noted that it would aim to “direct and compel the NNPCL to invite appropriate anticorruption agencies to investigate the spending and whereabouts of the said NGN500bn and to ensure the prompt recovery and remittance of the money to the Federation Account”.

On May 14 the World Bank highlighted its own concerns with a lack of transparency at the NNPCL, noting that the company had only been sending 50% of profits gained from the removal of petrol subsidies to the federation account in its latest Nigeria Development Update report.

In the report, the World Bank noted that the NNPCL had only started transferring revenue gains in January.

“Since then, it has been remitting only 50% of these gains, using the rest to offset past arrears,” it said.

Since the removal of petrol subsidies in 2023 by President Bola Tinubu, concerns about the transparency of the Nigerian oil sector have increased – particularly when referencing the management of subsidy gains, according to Premium Times.

SERAP’s suit has only increased pressure on the company, with the organisation planning to ask the court to “direct and compel the NNPCL to identify those suspected to be responsible for the alleged missing oil funds, surcharge them for the full amount involved, and hand them over to appropriate anticorruption agencies for investigation and prosecution,” according to Punch.

The group also said that the NNPCL had a responsibility to comply with the Nigerian Constitution, the Freedom of Information Act and human rights and anti-corruption legislation and argued that missing oil revenue had damaged an already “precarious” economy and contributed to “high levels of deficit spending” by the government.

SERAP added that Nigerian citizens had a right to know why the NNPCL had filed to submit subsidy removal savings to the federation account, and why the company had “deliberately denied states and local governments their allocations from the account, contrary to the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution”.

The NNPCL has been under scrutiny for several months following increasing allegations of corruption, with Tinubu removing and replacing the state-owned company’s entire leadership board in March – switching CEO Mele Kyari and board chairperson Pius Akinyelure with Bayo Ojulari and Ahmadu Kida respectively, among others.

Separate investigations conducted by the EFCC are also ongoing regarding alleged misappropriation of funds by the NNPCL’s top officials, including former CEO’s Kyari and Abubakar Yar’Adua, according to Premium Times.

SERAP concluded that missing oil revenue has shown the NNPCL is incapable of being accountable for its actions, and that the claims show a general failure by the state-owned institution to “uphold the principles of transparency”.