Falana threatens legal action against the National Assembly over unpaid royalties, stolen crude proceeds and withheld NLNG dividends.
Human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Femi Falana, SAN, has asked the Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio to immediately move to recover a staggering $123.17 billion and N66.4 billion owed to the federation by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), several international oil companies (IOCs) and indigenous producing firms.
In a strongly worded letter dated October 28, 2026, addressed to the Senate President and copied to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Tajudeen Abbas, Falana, through his law firm, Falana & Falana’s Chambers, said the funds represent outstanding royalties, taxes, dividends, stolen crude proceeds and failed refinery rehabilitation contracts established by judgments of courts of competent jurisdiction and reports of federal agencies.
The firm which described itself as dedicated to the promotion of human rights, social justice and public accountability in Nigeria, said it was compelled to write after the federal government failed to act on verified reports of massive revenue losses.
“We wish to draw your attention to the relevant judgments of courts of competent jurisdiction and reports of some agencies of the federal government which have established that the government of the federation is owed the sum of $123.17 billion being outstanding royalties, taxes and dividends,” the letter stated.
Falana gave the National Assembly 14 days to initiate recovery measures, warning that “If you fail to initiate legal measures for the recovery of the aforesaid huge funds belonging to the government of the federation within fourteen 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.”
The breakdown of the uncollected funds, according to the letter, begins with what the senior lawyer described as “$62 billion worth of royalties not collected from IOCs for 18 years.”
Falana traced the discovery to his firm’s campaign for the amendment of the Deep Offshore and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contracts Act.
He said his firm discovered that some public officers had deliberately refused to implement section 16 of the Act which provided for an upward review of royalties whenever the price of crude oil was sold beyond $20 per barrel in the international market.
“Confronted with the fact of the economic sabotage, the federal government admitted that the country had lost billions of dollars due to the non-implementation of the law but our demand for the collection of the huge fund was ignored without any legal basis,” he said.
It was at that stage, he explained, that the governments of Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa and Rivers States filed a suit at the Supreme Court and sought to compel the federal government to collect all outstanding royalties under the Act.
Falana recalled that in a consent judgment delivered on October 20, 2018, the Supreme Court had ordered the federal government to collect the outstanding royalties which had accrued for 18 years under the Deep Offshore Inland Basin Production Sharing Contract Act and that the 13 per cent derivation due to the plaintiffs be paid to them upon recovery of the fund in accordance with Section 162 of the 1999 Constitution as amended.
He added that pursuant to the said consent judgment, the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation constituted a committee to determine the respective liabilities of the IOCs including the amount due to the oil producing states as derivation proceeds.
Falana noted the committee found that the amount not collected from the IOCs was $62 billion.
He said though the demand of the federal government for payment of the said sum was ignored by the IOCs, the governments of Akwa Ibom and Rivers States filed a case at the Federal High Court wherein they sought a declaration that they were entitled to the sum of $1,114,551,610.00 and $2,258,411,586 respectively from the said sum.
Upon hearing the matter, the Federal High Court presided over by Justice Taiwo Taiwo granted the relief for the payment of $3.3 billion to both plaintiffs, in addition to a post-judgment interest of 10 per cent until final liquidation.
Falana said in a separate action, the Bayelsa State Government sought a declaration that it was entitled to $951 million from the said sum, and in a judgment delivered on June 22, 2021, Justice Inyang Ekwo entered judgment in its favour.
“From the information at our disposal, the federal government has not complied with the aforesaid judgments of the Federal High Court,” Falana noted.
He said the second component was $29 billion being proceeds of stolen crude oil.
Falana said a team of Nigerian lawyers engaged by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) discovered that about 60.2 million barrels of crude oil stolen from Nigeria by the IOCs were discharged in Philadelphia Port in the United States between 2011 and 2014, with a value of $12.7 billion.
He said the report was submitted to the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation but the government refused to prosecute the indicted companies, prompting the NIMASA team to file nine civil cases in the Abuja and Lagos divisions of the Federal High Court.
He recalled that sometime in 2016, the House of Representatives set up an Ad Hoc Committee headed by Hon. Johnson Agbonayinma to probe the undeclared crude oil and liquefied natural gas exports to global destinations between 2011 and 2014.
He said the committee 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.
Falana urged the Senate to demand a copy of the report from the Clerk of the House and to direct the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to recover the total sum.
“Notwithstanding the pending civil cases filed by NIMASA at the Federal High Court, you may wish to direct the EFCC to embark on the recovery of the total sum of $29 billion from the indicted oil and shipping companies because they engaged in oil theft and other acts of economic sabotage,” he stated.
The third and arguably most contentious is “$23.1 billion NLNG Dividends withheld by the NNPCL.”
Falana explained that Nigeria LNG Limited, incorporated in 1989 to produce LNG and natural gas liquids for export, is owned by four shareholders: NNPCL with 49 per cent held on behalf of the government of the federation, Shell with 25.6 per cent, TotalEnergies with 15 per cent and Eni International with 10.4 per cent.
According to him, for the past 26 years, NLNG has paid dividends of over $47 billion to shareholders, out of which 49 per cent, $23.1 billion, was paid to the government via NNPCL.
“The NNPCL has failed to remit the said sum of $23.1 billion to the Federation Account contrary to section 162 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended.
The resolutions of the Senate and the House of Representative that the dividends be remitted to the Federation have been ignored by the NNPCL,” the letter said.
The fourth component is $6.17 billion and N66.4 billion allegedly owed by oil and gas companies as disclosed by the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI).
Falana said 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 as of June 2024 stood at $6.071 billion and N66.4 billion.
After the public presentation, a copy was sent to the Senate and House in November 2024 in accordance with section 3 of the NEITI Act.
“The National Assembly ought to assist NEITI to recover the said sum of $6.071 billion and N66.4 billion without any further delay,” he said.
The final component is $2.9 billion for the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt, Kaduna and Warri refineries.
Falana recalled that in April 2021, the Federal Executive Council approved a $1.5 billion contract for the rehabilitation of the two Port Harcourt refineries to a foreign firm in three phases of 18, 24 and 44 months, and in August 2021 approved $1.48 billion for Warri and Kaduna refineries to another foreign firm to be completed in three phases within 33 months.
In December 2024, he said NNPCL announced that Port Harcourt and Warri had been substantially completed while Kaduna was almost completed.
However, he said NNPCL later claimed that Warri Refinery ceased operations on January 25, 2025, due to safety issues in its Crude Distillation Unit Main Heater while Port Harcourt Refineries were shut down to undergo planned maintenance beginning May 29, 2025.
“Since the foreign firms have breached the terms of the rehabilitation contracts, we urge to direct the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to recover the contract sum of $2.9 billion from them. This will enable the Federal Government to re-award the contracts to competent contractors,” Falana stated.
Concluding, the senior advocate said if the total sum of $123.17 billion and N66.4 billion is recovered, the federal government and respective state governments will cease to incur more external loans to the detriment of the national economy.
He also defended his locus standi, noting that in 2017, his firm drafted the Bill for the amendment of the Deep Offshore and Production Sharing Contracts Act, which was adopted and sponsored by a senator, scaled first reading in the 8th Assembly, and later adopted, modified and passed by the 9th Assembly, with then Senate President Ahmad Lawan stating it would increase national revenue by not less than $1.5 billion per annum.