The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has initiated legal action against the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) over roughly N5.9 billion reportedly spent on the incorporation, transition, and rebranding of the former Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) into NNPCL.
The suit, filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja on behalf of SERAP by lawyers Oluwakemi Agunbiade, Kehinde Oyewumi, and Andrew Nwankwo, seeks a detailed reconciliation of the expenditure, including information on the contractors involved and the officials who authorised the spending.
The organisation is also asking the court to direct NNPCL to clarify whether the expenditure complied with procurement laws and due-process requirements.
SERAP argued that the NNPCL has a legal obligation to explain whether the N5.9 billion represents value for money and constitutes lawful spending of public funds. The group said failure to provide details undermines the constitutional right of Nigerians to access information on the management of public resources.
The lawsuit follows concerns raised by the Senate Committee on Public Accounts over the rebranding costs. According to details cited by SERAP, NNPC allegedly paid N2.9 billion for incorporation expenses from petroleum product proceeds, while the National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS) reportedly charged another N2.9 billion to crude oil revenue for the same purpose, bringing the total to approximately N5.9 billion. The Senate committee described the spending as excessive and unjustifiable.
The rebranding followed the enactment of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021, which transformed NNPC into NNPCL as a commercially oriented limited liability company wholly owned by the Federal Government.
The action comes exactly one month after SERAP urged President Bola Tinubu to direct an investigation into the same spending.
The lawsuit is the latest in a series of accountability challenges facing NNPCL. In March 2026, the Senate Committee on Public Accounts summoned the company's immediate past management, including former Group Chief Executive Officer Mele Kyari, over alleged financial discrepancies amounting to N210 trillion in audited statements between 2017 and 2023. Lawmakers identified about N103 trillion recorded as accrued expenses in NNPCL's 2022 financial statements without detailed breakdowns.
SERAP recently secured a court victory against the National Assembly after the Federal High Court in Lagos declared unlawful the legislature's N110 billion expenditure on vehicles and allowances for lawmakers, reinforcing calls for greater transparency in public spending.
