SERAP Urges Tinubu to Probe Missing $15bn, N200bn Oil Revenues

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP has urged President Bola Tinubu to “set up a presidential panel of enquiry to promptly probe the grim allegations that over US$15 billion of oil revenues, and N200 billion budgeted to repair the refineries are missing and unaccounted for between 2020 and 2021, as documented by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, NEITI.

SERAP urged the president to “name and shame anyone suspected to be responsible for the missing and unaccounted for public funds and to ensure their effective prosecution as well as the full recovery of any proceeds of crime.”

SERAP also urged him “to fully implement all the recommendations by NEITI in its 2021 report, and to use any recovered proceeds of crime.”

In the letter dated 23 September 2023 and signed by SERAP deputy director Kolawole Oluwadare, the organisation said: “There is a legitimate public interest in ensuring justice and accountability for these serious allegations and taking these important measures would end the impunity of perpetrators.”

SERAP urged the President to get the bottom of the allegations and ensure that suspected perpetrators are promptly brought to justice, and any missing public funds fully recovered.”

SERAP also noted that the NNPC also reportedly obtained a loan of $3 billion in 2012 purportedly to settle subsidy payments due to petroleum product marketers but there is no disclosure of the details of the loan, subsidy and the beneficiaries of the payments.

It also noted that the report documents that about N200 billion was spent on ‘refineries rehabilitation’ between 2020 and 2021 but “none of the refineries was operational in 2021 despite the spending.’

SERAP urged that the spending te investigated, as the money may be missing.