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SERAP has urged Mr Mele Kyari”to identify those suspected to be responsible for the disappeared oil money”.
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The group tasked the NNPCL boss to hand over the suspects to the ICPC and EFCC.
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This was contained in the annual report published on Thursday, November 27, 2024.
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), has urged the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Mele Kyari, to account for the alleged missing N825 billion and $2.5 billion allocated for refinery rehabilitation and other oil revenues.
In the letter dated January 4, 2025 and signed by SERAP deputy director Kolawole Oluwadare, the organisation said: “We welcome your timely public invitation to former president Obasanjo ‘to tour the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries.’
“While your invitation is clearly not ‘disrespectful’, contrary to the claims by the former president because no one is above the law, we urge you to formally invite him, and to extend your invitation to the EFCC and ICPC for the sake of transparency and accountability.”
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SERAP also said, “Your public invitation to Obasanjo is well-justified, and entirely consistent with the letter and spirit of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended] and the country’s international obligations on the obligations of the NNPCL and the roles of citizens in preventing and combating grand corruption.”
The letter read in part: “The grim allegations by the Auditor-General suggest a grave violation of the public trust and the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution, national anticorruption laws, and the country’s international obligations.
“The allegations have also undermined economic development of the country, trapped the majority of Nigerians in poverty and deprived them of opportunities.
“We would be grateful if the recommended measures are taken within 7 days of the receipt and/or publication of this letter. If we have not heard from you by then, SERAP shall consider appropriate legal actions to compel the NNPCL to comply with our requests in the public interest.”
SERAP noted that according to the recently published 2021 audited report by the Auditor General of the Federation (AGF), the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) failed to account for over N825 billion and USD$2.5 billion of public funds meant for ‘refinery rehabilitation’ and repairs, and other oil revenues.
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“The Auditor-General fears that the money may be missing,” it said.
“The NNPCL reportedly failed to account for over N82 billion [N82,951,595,510.47] meant for ‘refinery rehabilitation and repairs.’ The ‘money was deducted from the sale of Crude Oil and Gas between 2020 and 2021.”
“The NNPCL also reportedly failed to account for over N343 billion [N343,642,598,726.51] ‘being proceeds from domestic crude sales.’ The ‘money, meant for ‘pipelines maintenance and management costs, was unilaterally deducted from the gross domestic crude sales,'” it said.
Direct CCB to Publish your assets – SERAP tells Tinubu
The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) had earlier called on President Bola Tinubu to request the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) to publish his assets.
The group also to encourage Vice-President Kashim Shettima, ministers, leaders of the National Assembly, state governors, and chairmen of Nigeria’s 774 local governments to do the same.
