The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has initiated a lawsuit against the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, citing the company’s inability to account for and clarify the location of the purported missing $2.04 billion and N164 billion in oil revenues.
This is contained in a press release statement on the official website of the group on Sunday.
SERAP said the lawsuit was prompted by claims detailed in the Auditor General of the Federation’s 2020 audited report.
According to the report, NNPC did not transfer the funds to the Federation Account, suggesting that the money might have been misappropriated.
In case number FHC/ABJ/CS/549/2024, filed last Friday at the Federal High Court in Abuja, SERAP is requesting an order of mandamus to instruct and require the NNPC to detail and clarify the location of the missing $2.04 billion and N164 billion in oil revenues, as recorded in the report by the Auditor-General.
According to SERAP, the Auditor-General has consistently reported on the disappearance of public funds from the NNPC for many years.
SERAP said Nigerians have continued to suffer due to these missing oil revenues.
The legal action was initiated on behalf of SERAP by its attorneys, Kolawole Oluwadare and Kehinde Oyewumi.
Oyewumi said that the alleged missing oil revenues indicate a broader problem of accountability within the NNPCL. This is a systemic issue that persists across the institution, they said.
They also mentioned that the lawsuit further connects these financial discrepancies directly to the institution’s continuous failure to adhere to principles of transparency and accountability.