A civil society organisation, Vanguard for Probity and Accountability, has accused the Board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) of planning a lavish getaway to Kigali, Rwanda, even as the company faces mounting allegations of financial mismanagement amounting to over N210 trillion.
In a statement issued in Port Harcourt on Thursday, the group’s National Coordinator, Dr. Joel Abba, claimed that the NNPCL Board has concluded arrangements to fly to Rwanda this Friday on five private jets. According to the group, the trip is being facilitated by the son-in-law of a prominent politically exposed person and is expected to cost over one billion Naira.
“This is absurdity taken too far,” Dr. Abba said. “The Board has planned an extravagant trip to Kigali, Rwanda, this Friday on five private jets, which amount to over a billion Naira. We are obviously being taken for granted by this crop of leaders manning our oil sector.”
The allegations come just days after the Nigerian Senate gave NNPCL one week to explain discrepancies in its audited financial statements from 2017 to 2023. Lawmakers described the figures under accrued expenses and receivables as “mind-boggling” and “unacceptable.”
The group questioned the ethics of such a high-cost international trip at a time when millions of Nigerians are facing economic hardship and when NNPCL is under investigation for financial irregularities. Dr. Abba accused the company of showing “crass insensitivity, arrogance, and lack of accountability.”
“Little wonder Nigerians have been paying heavily on petrol just for a few individuals to finance an obscene lifestyle,” he said.
Vanguard for Probity and Accountability called on the Senate to go beyond the financial probe and scrutinise how public institutions are using their resources. The group insists that the planned trip to Kigali is a gross abuse of office and an insult to the suffering public.
“The Senate must be firm and ensure that public office holders are not allowed to waste public funds while citizens struggle to survive,” the statement said.
As pressure mounts on the NNPCL, the group warned that continued silence on such allegations could fuel public anger and deepen the credibility crisis facing the nation’s oil sector.
