The National Civil Society Council of Nigeria (NCSCN) has strongly criticized the accusations made by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) against the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC).
SERAP recently accused the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited of failing to clarify the whereabouts of an alleged missing $2.04 billion and N164 billion oil revenues.
In a statement signed by SERAP's deputy director, Kolawole Oluwadare, it was claimed that the NNPC did not remit the alleged money into the Federation Account, suggesting that it may have been diverted to unknown destinations, based on the 2020 audited report by the auditor-general of the federation.
At a press conference in Abuja, the executive director of the CSOs, Blessing Akinlosotu, asserted that most of the allegations against the management of the NNPC are unfounded and misrepresentations of facts and figures.
He acknowledged that no public institution in Nigeria can be completely free of corruption and bad elements, but also expressed concerns about deliberate efforts to obstruct reforms in the Petroleum Industry and transformation in the NNPC by politically and economically motivated internal and international forces.