Femi Falana demands recovery of $123.17 billion in oil funds
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Punch
Nigerian lawyer Femi Falana is asking Parliament to recover $123.17 billion and 66.4 billion naira in unpaid oil royalties, taxes and dividends. He threatens to take the matter to court within 14 days if the authorities do not begin the process, according to a letter cited by Punch.
Nigerian human rights lawyer Femi Falana has asked Parliament to recover $123.17 billion and 66.4 billion naira in oil revenues allegedly unpaid by state oil company NNPC and other companies in the sector. In a letter dated 28 October 2026, he called for the sums to be paid into the Federation Account, Punch reports.
Falana puts the value of uncollected oil royalties at $62 billion, and alleges that Nigeria LNG Limited failed to remit $23.1 billion in dividends. He also includes $6.071 billion in revenues due to the sector, as well as amounts linked to crude oil theft and refinery rehabilitation contracts.
The lawyer gave the authorities 14 days from receipt of his letter to begin recovery proceedings, failing which he threatened to take the matter to the Federal High Court. He cites, among other things, a consent judgment by the Supreme Court on 20 October 2018, which allegedly ordered the federal government to collect royalties accrued over 18 years under production-sharing contracts in deepwater and inland basin areas.
According to Falana, a committee in the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation had put uncollected royalties owed by international oil companies at $62 billion. He says Akwa Ibom and Rivers states obtained a Federal High Court judgment for a total of $3.3 billion, while Bayelsa State obtained a separate ruling for $951 million. He argues that the federal government has not enforced these rulings.
