SERAP files lawsuit against NNPCl over failure to account for missing N825bn, $2.5b

Monday, July 14, 2025 - The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Proj­ect (SERAP) has filed a suit against the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) for allegedly failing to account for N825 billion and $2.5 billion earmarked for re­finery rehabilitation and oth­er oil-related expenditures.

The suit followed the damning allegations docu­mented in the 2021 audited report by the Auditor-Gener­al of the Federation, which was published on November 27, 2024.

Aliko Dangote, President of the Dangote Group, also last week said that NNPCL refineries may never work again, despite the $18 billion spent on the refineries.

In the suit number FHC/L/ MISC/722/25 filed last Friday at the Federal High Court in Lagos, SERAP is seeking: “an order of mandamus to direct and compel the NNPCL to account for and explain the whereabouts of the alleged missing N825 billion and $2.5 billion of public funds meant for ‘refinery rehabilitation’ and repair.”

SERAP is also asking the court to direct and compel the NNPCL to recover and remit to the federation account the alleged missing N825 billion and $2.5 billion of public funds meant for refinery re­habilitation and repair.

SERAP is also asking the court to direct and compel the NNPCL to identify those responsible for the missing oil money, surcharge them for the full amount involved, and hand them over to appropri­ate anticorruption agencies for investigation and prose­cution.

In the suit, SERAP is ar­guing that: “The grim allega­tions by the Auditor-General and Mr. Aliko Dangote suggest a grave violation of the public trust and the provisions of the Nigerian constitution, nation­al anticorruption laws, and the country’s international human rights and anticor­ruption obligations.”

SERAP is also arguing that, “granting the reliefs sought would strike a blow against the impunity of those responsible for the missing oil money meant to repair the country’s refineries and ensure that the money is re­turned for the sake of NNP­CL’s victims—Nigerians.

“These grim allegations have also undermined eco­nomic development of the country, trapped the majority of Nigerians in poverty, and contributed to high levels of deficit spending by the gov­ernment.

“The vast majority of Ni­gerians have seen little ben­efit from their country’s oil wealth, even as the NNPCL continues to fail to account for the missing billions of dollars that are desperately needed to repair or replace the country’s dysfunctional refineries.

“The Auditor-General has for many years documented reports of disappearance of public funds from the NN­PCL. Nigerians continue to bear the brunt of these miss­ing public funds meant for refinery rehabilitation.”

The suit filed on behalf of SERAP by its lawyers, Kolawole Oluwadare, Ms Oluwakemi Oni, and Ms Valentina Adegoke, also reads in part: “The missing oil revenue reflects a failure of NNPCL accountability more generally and is direct­ly linked to the institution’s continuing failure to uphold transparency and account­ability principles.

“According to the recently published 2021 audited report by the Auditor General of the Federation (AGF), the Nigeri­an National Petroleum Cor­poration Limited (NNPCL) failed to account for over N825 billion and $2.5 billion of pub­lic funds meant for ‘refinery rehabilitation’ and repairs, and other oil revenues.

“The Auditor-General fears that the money may be missing.

“The NNPCL reportedly failed to account for over N82 billion [N82,951,595,510.47] meant for ‘refinery rehabili­tation and repairs.’ The ‘mon­ey was deducted from the sale of crude oil and gas between 2020 and 2021’.

“The Auditor-General fears the money may be miss­ing. He wants the money re­covered and remitted to the Federation Account. He also wants the NNPCL ‘to ensure that the amounts due for the Federation Account are not subjected to any deductions before remittance of net.’

“The NNPCL also re­portedly failed to account for over N343 billion [N343,642,598,726.51] ‘being proceeds from domestic crude sales.’ The ‘money, meant for ‘pipelines maintenance and management costs, was uni­laterally deducted from the gross domestic crude sales.’

“The Auditor-General fears ‘the money may have been diverted.’ He wants the money recovered and remit­ted to the treasury. He also wants the NNPCL to hand over those suspected to be involved to the EFCC and ICPC.

“The NNPCL also report­edly failed to account for over N83 billion [N83,659,813,739.99] ‘being miscellaneous income from the NNPC joint venture operations from 2016 to 2020.’ The ‘money was withdrawn from the CBN/NNPC sinking fund account [a suspense ac­count].’

“The Auditor-General is concerned that this practice ‘has led the federation to re­sort to borrowings.’ He wants ‘the money recovered and re­mitted to the treasury.’”