Monday, October 27, 2025 - The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project hascalled on the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Bayo Ojulari, to explain the whereabouts of alleged missing oil funds amounting to N22.3bn, $49.7m, £14.3m, and €5.2m, reportedly unaccounted for in the company’s financial records.
The civic group, in a letter dated October 25, 2025, and
signed by its Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, said the missing sums were
documented in the 2022 annual report recently published by the Auditor-General
of the Federation on September 9, 2025.
SERAP urged Ojulari to identify and hand over those
responsible for the alleged diversion or misappropriation of the funds to the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices
and Other Related Offences Commission for prosecution.
It also demanded that the missing funds be recovered and
returned to the national treasury without further delay.
“These grim allegations by the Auditor-General suggest a
grave violation of public trust, the Nigerian Constitution, anti-corruption
laws, and the country’s international obligations,” the organization stated.
According to SERAP, the Auditor-General’s findings point to
“systemic corruption” within the NNPCL, which has “undermined Nigeria’s
economic development, trapped millions in poverty, and deprived citizens of
access to essential public services.”
The group noted that the Auditor-General has, over the
years, consistently documented similar reports of unremitted or missing oil
revenues, lamenting that “ordinary Nigerians continue to bear the brunt of
widespread corruption in the oil sector.”
It said,“Combating the corruption epidemic in the oil sector
would alleviate poverty, improve access of Nigerians to basic public goods and
services, and enhance the government’s ability to meet its human rights and
anti-corruption obligations.”
SERAP further alleged that the misappropriated oil revenues
reflected a broader failure of accountability and transparency at the NNPCL,
contributing to Nigeria’s rising debt levels and deficit spending.
The group said, “Had the NNPCL accounted for and remitted
these diverted or misappropriated oil monies, more funds would have been
available for education, healthcare, and other critical sectors. The level of
borrowing by the government would also have been reduced.”
SERAP gave the NNPCL a seven-day ultimatum to take the
recommended steps or face appropriate legal action to compel compliance.
Quoting details from the 2022 audited report, SERAP
highlighted numerous irregularities in NNPCL’s accounts, including: a ₦292m abandoned contract for an
Accident and Emergency Facility in Abuja; over £14m allegedly spent to repair
its London office without evidence of execution; an irregular $22.8m payment to
a contractor for crude lifting, with unclear justification.
Others include a N2.3bn paid as car cash options to 100
staff without requisite approvals; ₦12.7bn
unremitted operating surplus for December 2020, and the €5.1m paid for jetty
operations with no supporting documents.
Multiple cases of undocumented or fictitious contract
payments running into billions of naira and millions of dollars.
The Auditor-General reportedly expressed fears that much of
the money “may have been diverted or misappropriated” and called for its
recovery and remittance to the treasury.
SERAP cited Section 15(5) of the 1999 Constitution (as
amended), which mandates public institutions to abolish all corrupt practices
and abuse of power, urging the NNPCL to act transparently in the public
interest.
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