The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), has asked the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd (NNPCL), Mr. Bayo Bashir, to account for and explain the whereabouts of the missing N500 billion that the NNPCL failed to remit to the Federation Account between October 2024 and December 2024, as revealed by the World Bank.
In a Freedom of Information request dated May 17, 2025 signed by SERAP’s deputy director, Kolawole Oluwadare, SERAP enjoined Ojulari to identify those suspected to be involved, surcharge them for the full amount involved and hand them over to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for investigation and prosecution.
SERAP also urged Ojulari “to invite the EFCC and ICPC to investigate the spending and whereabouts of the N500 billion, and to ensure the full recovery and remittance of the money to the Federation Account without further delay”.
The World Bank last week stated that out of the N1.1 trillion revenue from crude sales and other incomes in 2024, the NNPCL only remitted N600 billion, leaving a deficit of N500 billion unaccounted for.
It explained that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) also recently called for the subsidy removal savings to be transferred to the national budget.
The NNPCL is yet to make a public statement on the discovery by the World Bank.
According to SERAP, there is a legitimate public interest in explaining the whereabouts of the alleged missing N500 billion oil money, a development it described as a grave violation of the Nigerian Constitution.
It stated that the country’s oil wealth ought to be used solely for the benefit of the Nigerian people, and for the sake of the present and future generations.
SERAP noted that Nigerians have the right to know why the NNPCL failed to remit the subsidy removal savings to the Federation Account, and why the NNPCL is deliberately denying states and local governments their allocations from the account, contrary to the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended].
