Group sues NNPC over failure to account for ‘missing N500bn oil money’

NNPCL image

Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has filed a lawsuit against the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited over the “failure to account for and explain the whereabouts of the alleged missing N500 billion, which the NNPCL failed to remit to the Federation Account between October 2024 and December 2024.”

The suit followed the recent allegations by the World Bank that out of the N1.1trn revenue from crude sales and other income in 2024, the NNPCL only remitted N600bn, leaving a deficit of N500bn unaccounted for.In response to SERAP’s Freedom of Information (FoI) request, the NNPCL had claimed through its lawyers Afe Babalola and Co that the FoI Act does not apply to it.

But 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.”

SERAP is also asking the court to “direct and compel the NNPCL to invite appropriate anticorruption 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.”

SERAP is also asking 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.”

In the suit, SERAP is arguing that: “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.”

SERAP is also arguing that, “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.”