The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has filed a lawsuit against the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited over its failure to account for and explain the whereabouts of the alleged missing N500 billion.
It said the state oil company failed to remit to the federation account between October 2024 and December 2024.
The suit followed recent allegations by the World Bank that out of the N1.1 trillion revenue from crude sales and other income in 2024, the NNPC only remitted N600 billion, leaving a deficit of N500 billion unaccounted for.
In response to SERAP’s Freedom of Information (FoI) request, NNPC had claimed through its lawyers, Mr Afe Babalola and Co. that the FoI Act does not apply to it.
However, in the suit number FHC/L/MSC/553/2025 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 the alleged missing N500 billion, which it allegedly failed to remit to the Federation Account between October 2024 and December 2024.”
The group also wants the court to “direct and compel the NNPCL to invite appropriate anti-corruption agencies to investigate the spending and whereabouts of the said N500 billion and to ensure the prompt recovery and remittance of the money to the Federation Account.”
It requests 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.”
“The NNPCL has a responsibility to comply with the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended], the Freedom of Information Act, and the country’s international human rights and anticorruption obligations in the exercise of its statutory functions,” it argued.
“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 and the country’s crippling debt crisis.
“The missing oil revenue reflects a failure of NNPCL accountability more generally and is directly linked to the institution’s continuing failure to uphold the principles of transparency and accountability.
“The Supreme Court in a groundbreaking judgment recently declared that the Freedom of Information Act ‘is applicable and applies to the public records in the Federation’, including those kept by the NNPCL,” the organisation stated further.
The suit was filed on behalf of SERAP by its lawyers, Mr Kolawole Oluwadare, Ms Oluwakemi Oni, and Ms Valentina Adegoke.