The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has called upon Mr. Bayo Bashir Ojulari, the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd (NNPCL), “to provide an account and clarification regarding the missing N500 billion that the NNPCL did not remit to the Federation Account from October 2024 to December 2024, as indicated by the World Bank.”
SERAP called on Mr. Ojulari “to pinpoint those believed to be involved, impose a surcharge on them for the complete sum in question, and transfer them to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for investigation and prosecution.
Additionally, it called on Mr. Ojulari “to ask the EFCC and ICPC to look into the expenditure and location of the N500 billion, and to guarantee that this money is completely recovered and paid into the Federation Account without further delay
Last week, the World Bank revealed that from the N1.1trn revenue generated from crude sales and other sources in 2024, the NNPCL remitted only N600bn, resulting in an unaccounted deficit of N500bn. Recently, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has also advocated for savings from subsidy removal to be allocated to the national budget.
he NNPCL is yet to make a public statement on the discovery by the World Bank.
However, in the Freedom of Information request dated May 17, 2025 signed by SERAP’s deputy director, KolawoleOluwadare, the organisation said: “There is a legitimate public interest in explaining the whereabouts of the alleged missing N500 billion oil money and grave violations of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended].
SERAP stated, “The oil wealth of the country should be utilized exclusively for the benefit of the Nigerian populace and for the sake of current and future generations.
“It is the right of Nigerians to be informed about the reasons behind the NNPCL’s failure to transfer savings from subsidy removal to the Federation Account, as well as its intentional withholding of allocations from this account to states and local governments, which goes against the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended]. ”
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