SERAP drags NNPC to court, cites failure to account for Nigeria’s oil revenue
The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) declared on Sunday that it has filed a lawsuit against the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited for failing to make public details of Nigeria’s daily oil production, exportation, and revenues since the removal of fuel subsidies in May 2023.
SERAP noted that Nigerians “have a right to know” about the country’s oil production and revenues, stressing that transparency would “ensure that the revenues generated from Nigeria’s daily oil production and exportation are not diverted into private pockets.”
SERAP Deputy Director Kolawole Oluwadare, said, “Nigeria’s daily oil production, exportation, and the revenues generated have been mostly shrouded in secrecy.
SERAP is seeking an injunction from the Federal High Court in Abuja to compel the national oil company to publish the number of barrels of oil Nigeria produces and exports daily, as well as the overall amount of money generated from oil production since the subsidy was abolished.
“The NNPC has a legal responsibility to disclose the details sought. Transparency would increase public confidence that the revenues would benefit Nigerians,” he said.
“Despite the country’s enormous oil wealth, ordinary Nigerians have derived very little benefit from oil money primarily because of widespread grand corruption, and the culture of impunity of perpetrators,” the organisation stated.
