The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), alongside four concerned Nigerians, have filed a lawsuit against the administration of President Bola Tinubu. 

The suit is challenging federal government’s refusal to release the forensic audit report of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), which allegedly exposed the misappropriation of a staggering N6 trillion between 2001 and 2019.

The NDDC, established to drive development in Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta, has long been embroiled in allegations of corruption and financial mismanagement, before it’s current management team. 

In 2021, the then-President Muhammadu Buhari ordered a forensic audit of the agency’s operations from 2001 to 2019. 

The audit was expected to uncover deep-rooted fraud and hold accountable those responsible for siphoning public funds meant for regional development.

However, despite the completion of the audit, the findings have remained shrouded in secrecy. 

SERAP argues that the failure to disclose the report violates the Freedom of Information Act (2011) and undermines the public’s right to know how their resources are being managed.

Consequently, in a statement released on Sunday by its Deputy-Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, SERAP disclosed that it took legal action to compel the Tinubu administration to publish the audit report. 

The organization stated that from it’s findings, the report implicated high-ranking officials and politicians in the alleged looting of N6 trillion, amount that could have transformed infrastructure, education, and healthcare in the Niger Delta. 

SERAP insists that region has suffered decades of neglect despite generating most of Nigeria’s oil wealth, adding that the government’s refusal to release the report disregarded FOI laws and set dangerous precedent for opacity in governance.