SERAP sues Tinubu, NNPCL over petrol price hike

Group justifies subsidy removal

Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has sued President Bola Tinubu at the Federal High Court, Abuja, for failing to direct the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) to reverse “the apparently unlawful increase in the pump price of petrol,” and to probe allegations of corruption and mismanagement in the NNPCL.

The SERAP suit came just as the Independent Media and Policy Initiative (IMPI) defended subsidy removal, saying fuel subsidy hampered Nigeria’s growth, as the country wasted $30 billion on subsidies that could have been redirected to critical sectors of the economy.

Joined in the SERAP’s suit as respondents are the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Lateef Fagbemi (SAN); and the NNPCL.

In the suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/1361/2024 filed at the weekend, SERAP is asking the court to compel President Tinubu to direct the NNPCL to reverse the increase in the price of petrol from N845 per litre to N600 per litre.

The organisation is also asking the court to compel Tinubu to direct Fagbemi and anti-corruption agencies to probe allegations of corruption and mismanagement in the NNPC, including the reported spending of $300 million bailout funds collected from the Federal Government in August 2024, and the $6 billion debt it owes suppliers, despite allegedly failing to remit oil revenues to the treasury.

In the suit filed on behalf of SERAP by its lawyer, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa (SAN), the organisation said the increase in petrol price constituted a fundamental breach of constitutional guarantees and the country’s international human rights obligations.

No date has been fixed for the hearing of the suit.

BUT IMPI expressed a different opinion. It argued that fuel subsidy adversely affected the Nigerian economy.

Chairman of IMPI, Niyi Akinsiju, argued at a press conference in Abuja at the weekend that the government’s subsidy policy, introduced in 1973, had become an “economic weapon of mass destruction” that strangulated the nation’s potential and wasted billions of dollars.

Akinsiju contended that subsidies were initially introduced as a temporary measure to cushion the impact of high oil prices.

He said the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) empowered the NNPCL to determine prices based on market forces, stressing that any attempt to subvert this would be a breach of the law.

Akinsiju said the resistance of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) to market-determined prices was misplaced and should focus on driving the vision of making Nigeria a refining hub.

He, therefore, appealed to Labour leaders and Nigerians to engage the government in channelling resources into developing the health and educational sectors and providing functional infrastructure.