The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has formally requested the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd (NNPCL) to account for N500 billion allegedly not remitted to the Federation Account between October and December 2024.

In a Freedom of Information request dated May 17, 2025, SERAP's deputy director, Kolawole Oluwadare, called on NNPCL's Group Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Bayo Bashir Ojulari, to explain the whereabouts of the missing funds, which were highlighted in a recent World Bank report.

According to the World Bank's findings released last week, NNPCL generated approximately N1.1 trillion from crude sales and other income sources in 2024 but only remitted N600 billion to the Federation Account, leaving N500 billion unaccounted for.

SERAP has urged Ojulari to "identify those suspected to be involved, surcharge them for the full amount involved and hand them over to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for investigation and prosecution."

The organization also requested that the NNPCL invite both anti-corruption agencies to investigate the spending and whereabouts of the N500 billion, ensuring full recovery and remittance to the Federation Account without further delay.

SERAP emphasized that there is "a legitimate public interest in explaining the whereabouts of the alleged missing N500 billion oil money," describing the situation as "a grave violation of the Nigerian Constitution."

"The country's oil wealth ought to be used solely for the benefit of the Nigerian people, and for the sake of the present and future generations," SERAP stated in its request.

The organization further noted that Nigerians have the right to know why the NNPCL failed to remit the subsidy removal savings to the Federation Account, and why states and local governments are being denied their constitutional allocations from the account.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has also recently called for subsidy removal savings to be transferred to the national budget, according to the report.

As of the time of this report, the NNPCL has yet to issue a public statement regarding the World Bank's findings.