SERAP Issues NNPCL 7 Days to Account for Missing Revenues
Socio-economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mele Kyari, to account for allegedly missing USD$2.04 billion and N164 billion oil revenues.
The SERAP said the allegations were documented in the 2020 Auditor-General of the Federation’s report published in December 2023 and made available to the public recently.
The organisation noted that the unavailability of the said revenues had done further damage to the nation’s economy and contributed to very high levels of deficit spending by the government.
In a statement released on Saturday, February 17 and signed by its deputy director Kolawole Oluwadare, SERAP called on Kyari to name and shame people responsible for the revenue and hand them over to appropriate anticorruption agencies.
“Without the full recovery and remittance of the missing USD$2.04 billion and N164 billion oil revenues, the dire economic situation may worsen, and Nigerians will continue to be denied access to basic public goods and services.’
“The Auditor-General has for many years documented reports of the disappearance of public funds from the NNPC. Nigerians continue to bear the brunt of these missing oil revenues.”
The statement added that the revenues disappearance reflected a failure of NNPCL accountability and the organisation’s disregard for the values of accountability and transparency.
It further stated that Nigerians were entitled to know the whereabouts of the funds.
The SERAP argued that Nigerians’ rights to restitution, compensation, and a guarantee against repetition would be advanced by maintaining accountability and transparency in the handling of oil revenues, stressing that the monies might have been diverted into private pockets, denying the government the funding needed to carry out its activities.
Citing sections 13 and 16 from the Nigerian Constitution, SERAP said the sections impose clear responsibility on the NNPCL to conform to.
“Nigeria has made legally binding commitments under the UN Convention against corruption to ensure accountability in the management of public resources. Articles Five and Nine of the UN Convention against Corruption also impose legal obligations on the NNPCL to ensure proper management of public affairs and public funds. These commitments ought to be fully upheld and respected,” said the organisation.
