Act On NDDC Audit Report, Prosecute Those Hiding It, SERAP Tells Tinubu

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), a non-governmental organisation, has urged President Bola Tinubu to direct the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), to promptly investigate the allegations that high-ranking officials and politicians indicted in the report of the forensic audit on the Niger Delta Development Com­mission (NDDC) between 2000 and 2019 obstructed the publication of the report.

SERAP asked him to direct Mr. Fagbemi and appropriate an­ti-corruption agencies to promptly identify those responsible for ob­structing the release of the report and bring them to justice for ob­struction of justice.

SERAP also urged him to direct Mr. Fagbemi to immediately pub­lish the NDDC forensic report and to name and shame those respon­sible for the alleged embezzlement of over N6 trillion in the NDDC, bring them to justice and recover any proceeds of corruption, and provide adequate compensation to victims.

In the letter dated July 5, 2025, and signed by SERAP deputy di­rector Kolawole Oluwadare, the organisation said: “While the audit report may make uncomfortable reading for the indicted officials and politicians, your government has a constitutional responsibility to publish it and act upon its rec­ommendations.

“The forensic audit report of the NDDC can no longer be left to gather dust. The continued failure to publish the audit report under­mines public trust and confidence, particularly of victims of corrup­tion in the Niger Delta who have waited far too long for justice and accountability.

“Obstructing the release of the forensic audit report or hiding it is a grave and wilful attempt to obstruct, prevent and pervert the course of justice for the allegations of corruption in the NDDC.

“Obstructing the release of the forensic audit report or hiding it, and delaying the implementation of its recommendations have en­abled suspected perpetrators to evade justice and denied access to justice for victims.

“We would be grateful if the recommended measures are taken within 7 days of the receipt and/ or publication of this letter. If we have not heard from you by then, SERAP shall take all appropriate legal actions before the ECOWAS Court of Justice to compel your government to comply with our request in the public interest.

“There is a legitimate public interest in publishing the full fo­rensic audit report of the forensic audit on the NDDC and naming and shaming those responsible for leaving the report to gather dust and bringing them to justice.

“The UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) in article 25 requires your government to pe­nalise any conduct which wrong­ly interferes, directly or indirectly, with the initiation, progress, or outcome of any investigation into allegations of corruption.

“Victims of grand corruption in the Niger Delta would lose faith in public investigations of corruption if the audit report is not immediately published and its recommendations acted upon. Victims would like to see the rec­ommendations and what progress has been made to make the NDDC fit for purpose.

“The failure to publish the report and fully implement its recommendations would seem to suggest that the forensic audit was not commissioned to provide transparency and accountability, but merely as a ruse to defer and avoid it.

“The extraordinary delay in publishing the report is contrary to the Nigerian constitution 1999 [as amended] and the country’s international anticorruption and human rights obligations.

“About N1.4 billion was report­edly approved for the auditors who carried out the NDDC forensic audit.

“The fact that the forensic audit undertaken at public ex­pense has been gathering dust on an official’s desk for several years shows the failure of the Buhari administration to deliver justice for the people of the Ni­ger Delta who are the primary victims of alleged corruption in the NDDC.”

“Bringing those suspected to be responsible for the grand cor­ruption documented in the NDDC forensic report and recovering any proceeds of corruption would ad­vance the right of Nigerians to restitution, compensation and guarantee of non-repetition and improve public confidence in the fight against corruption.”