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By John Azu
Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), has called on the federal government to quickly recover and remit to the federation account a total sum of $120 billion and N66.4 billion in royalties, taxes and dividends from the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Ltd (NNPCL) and others.
In a letter addressed to the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) dated June 3, 2026, Falana said he had the instruction of Alliance on Surviving Covid-19 and Beyond (ASCAB) to draw the attention of the government to the outstanding revenues.
Falana said despite a Supreme Court order in 2018, the federal government had failed to recover the funds from international oil companies for 18 years accruing from their deep offshore and inland basin operations as required under Section 16 of the Deep Offshore Inland Production Sharing Contracts Act.
He explained that due to the hesitancy to enforce the law, the governments of Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa and Rivers states filed the suit at the apex court seeking to compel the federal government to recover the revenues, adding that the matter had been heard by other high courts in the country.
“If you fail to initiate legal measures for the recovery of the aforesaid huge funds belonging to the Government of the Federation, within fourteen (14) days of the receipt of this letter, we shall not hesitate to file the necessary processes in the Federal High Court with a view to compelling you to discharge the duty of your office in accordance with section 287 of the Constitution and other relevant laws,” he wrote.
Continuing, Falana said the sum of $21.5 billion NLNG dividends were withheld by the NNPCL divided thus: NNPCL: 49 per cent; Shell: 25.6 per cent; TotalEnergies: 15 per cent; and Eni International: 10.4 per cent, despite the resolutions of the Senate and the House of Representative as well as the recommendations of the Auditor-General of the Federation, the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), and RMAFC, the NNPCL has failed to remit the said sum to the Federation Account contrary to Section 162 of the Nigerian Constitution.
Falana noted that over $62 billion proceeds of crude oil were stolen from 60.2 million barrels by IOCs and discharged in Philadelphia Port in the United States between 2011 and 2014 as discovered by lawyers engaged by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency NIMASA, adding that in 2016, the House of Representatives confirmed that $17 billion in oil and liquefied natural gas was exported from Nigeria without proper records and that the crude oil was discharged in the United States port of Houston and port of Lake Charles.
Further, Falana said 4. $6.17 billion and N66.4 billion are being owed by oil and gas companies, noting that on September 27, 2024, NEITI disclosed in its 2022/2023 Independent Oil and Gas Industry Report that outstanding collectable revenues due to the federal government in the sector as of June 2024 stood at $6.071 billion and N66.4 billion.
Furthermore, the senior lawyer claimed that the sum of $2.9 billion in contract sums for rehabilitation of Port Harcourt, Kaduna & Warri refineries was approved in April 2021 by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved, which was broken into $1.5 billion contract for Port Harcourt refinery and $1.48 billion for those of Warri and Kaduna with a completion date of 33 months in three phases.