The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has called on the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Bayo Ojulari, to explain the whereabouts of alleged missing oil funds amounting to N22.3bn, $49.7m, £14.3m, and €5.2m, reportedly unaccounted for in the company’s financial records.
The civic group, in a letter dated October 25, 2025, and signed by its Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, stated that the missing monies were documented in the 2022 annual report just published by the Auditor-General of the Federation on September 9, 2025.
SERAP requested Ojulari to identify and report persons responsible for the suspected diversion or misuse of funds to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission for prosecution.
It further asked that the lost cash be found and restored to the national treasury without further delay.
“These grim allegations by the Auditor-General suggest a grave violation of public trust, the Nigerian Constitution, anti-corruption laws, and the country’s international obligations,” the organization stated.
According to SERAP, the Auditor-General’s findings reveal “systemic corruption” within the NNPCL, which has “undermined Nigeria’s economic development, trapped millions in poverty, and deprived citizens of access to essential public services.”
The group stated that the Auditor-General has routinely documented similar instances of unremitted or missing oil earnings throughout the years and lamented that “ordinary Nigerians continue to bear the brunt of widespread corruption in the oil sector.”
It said, “Combating the corruption epidemic in the oil sector would alleviate poverty, improve access of Nigerians to basic public goods and services, and enhance the government’s ability to meet its human rights and anti-corruption obligations.”
SERAP handed the NNPCL a seven-day deadline to execute the proposed steps or face legal action to enforce compliance.
According to the 2022 audited report, SERAP found irregularities in NNPCL’s accounts, such as an abandoned ₦292 million contract for an Accident and Emergency Facility in Abuja, over £14 million spent on London office repairs without evidence of execution, and an irregular $22.8 million payment to a contractor for crude lifting with unclear justification.
Other issues include ₦2.3bn in unapproved car cash options for 100 employees, an unremitted operating excess of ₦12.7bn for December 2020, and €5.1m paid for jetty operations without supporting documentation.
Multiple incidents of unauthorized or fake contract payments totaling billions of naira and millions of USD.
The Auditor-General allegedly raised concern that most of the money “may have been diverted or misappropriated” and demanded its collection and repatriation to the Treasury.
SERAP referenced Section 15(5) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which requires public institutions to eliminate all corrupt practices and abuses of authority, and urged the NNPCL to operate transparently in the public’s interest.
