Nigeria’s Oil Giant Faces Legal Battle Over Missing $2.5 Billion
Civil rights group sues NNPCL over alleged disappearance of refinery rehabilitation funds
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) is facing a major legal challenge as civil rights organization SERAP has filed a lawsuit over allegedly missing billions meant for refinery repairs.
The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project filed the suit at the Federal High Court in Lagos on Friday, demanding accountability for alleged missing N825 billion and $2.5 billion in public funds earmarked for refinery rehabilitation.
The lawsuit stems from damning allegations documented in the 2021 audited report by the Auditor-General of the Federation, published on November 27, 2024. The case gained additional weight when Aliko Dangote, president of the Dangote Group, declared last week that NNPCL refineries may never work again despite $18 billion spent on them.
SERAP is seeking court orders to compel NNPCL to account for the missing funds, recover and remit the money to the federation account, and identify those responsible for the disappearance. The organization also wants the court to direct NNPCL to hand over those responsible to anticorruption agencies for investigation and prosecution.
“The grim allegations 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 argued in court documents.
The civil rights group contends that these allegations have undermined the country’s economic development, 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,” SERAP stated.
The suit was filed by SERAP lawyers Kolawole Oluwadare, Oluwakemi Oni, and Valentina Adegoke.
Source: dailytrust.com
