Emmanuel OchayiThe Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) is filing a lawsuit against the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) over the company’s inability to clarify and account for the missing $2.04 billion and N164 billion alleged missing oil revenue.
According to SERAP, the case was instigated by the 2020 audited report of the Auditor General of the Federation, which disclosed that NNPC neglected to transfer the cash to the Federation Account, implying potential theft.
In the suit, SERAP is seeking an order of mandamus to compel NNPC to:
- Provide details and clarify the location of the missing funds
- Hand over suspected perpetrators to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for investigation and prosecution
- Ensure the full recovery and remittance of the missing funds into the Federation Account
SERAP contends that NNPC is legally obligated to account for and provide an explanation for the whereabouts of the missing funds and that there is a valid public interest in releasing the requested information.
“The missing oil revenues have further damaged the already precarious economy in the country and contributed to high levels of deficit spending by the government,” claimed SERAP.
According to SERAP, Nigerians will continue to be denied access to essential public goods and services, and the country’s already severe economic condition might get worse without the full recovery and return of the missing cash.
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Attorneys Kolawole Oluwadare and Kehinde Oyewumi filed the complaint on behalf of SERAP, emphasising that the purportedly missing oil revenues point to a larger issue with accountability inside the NNPC, a systematic problem that endures throughout the organisation.
“The failure by the NNPC to account for and explain the whereabouts of the disappeared money is a grave violation of the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended], the Freedom of Information Act, national anticorruption laws, and the country’s obligations under the UN Convention against Corruption,” Oyewumi stated.
“Had the NNPCL and its subsidiaries accounted for and remitted the disappeared public funds into the Federation Account, it is likely that more funds would have been allocated to the fulfillment of economic and social rights of Nigerians, such as increased spending on public goods and services,” they added.
