(DDM) – The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has demanded that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) give a full public account of billions of naira in allegedly missing oil-revenue funds, citing fresh findings from the Auditor-General’s 2022 report.
Diaspora Digital Media (DDM) gathered that SERAP’s demand comes amid mounting public outrage over the report, which flagged unaccounted sums amounting to ₦22.3 billion, USD 49.7 million, £14.3 million, and €5.2 million—figures that the group says represent a troubling pattern of financial opacity within Nigeria’s petroleum sector.
According to SERAP, the missing funds span several fiscal years and point to systemic weaknesses in revenue management, poor oversight, and potential violations of the Public Finance Act.
The organisation noted that while the NNPCL had been officially commercialised to operate under the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA), it still owes Nigerians an obligation to maintain transparency, especially since the funds in question are public revenues generated from crude oil sales and export proceeds.
SERAP’s Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, was quoted as saying that failure to explain the whereabouts of these funds would “further entrench the culture of impunity, weaken fiscal responsibility, and erode public confidence in the nation’s most vital revenue source.”
DDM learned that the Auditor-General’s report raised red flags over discrepancies between actual crude oil sales and recorded remittances into the Federation Account, suggesting that some revenues might have been diverted or left unreconciled.
The rights group is now urging President Bola Tinubu’s administration to compel NNPCL to release a detailed statement of accounts and cooperate with anti-corruption agencies to trace and recover the missing funds.
SERAP further warned that allowing such irregularities to persist could deepen Nigeria’s fiscal crisis, as dwindling oil income remains the country’s biggest constraint in funding critical infrastructure, education, and healthcare.
Economic analysts who spoke with DDM say the revelation could trigger renewed calls for an overhaul of NNPCL’s governance structure, especially as the corporation continues to operate with limited public scrutiny despite its transformation into a private limited entity.
One Abuja-based policy expert noted that “commercialisation without accountability is meaningless,” arguing that NNPCL’s opaque financial practices undermine the spirit of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), which was designed to promote transparency and attract foreign investment.
Meanwhile, NNPCL has yet to issue any public response to SERAP’s demand as of press time.
Civil society groups are, however, warning that the issue could spiral into a major reform battle within the petroleum sector if the company fails to provide answers in the coming weeks.