The government of President Muhammadu Buhari is being sued by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) for “failure to investigate the operations of illegal oil pipelines between 2001 and 2022, to name and prosecute those suspected to be involved, and to recover proceeds of crime.”
The lawsuit was brought when news broke that at least 58 illicit oil pipelines that were being used to siphon off the nation’s oil wealth had been found. According to reports, the theft is done through an illegal pipeline that is connected to the trunk line via an abandoned pipeline and connected to a point in the high seas where crude oil is loaded onto ships and sold abroad.
The plaintiffs contend in the lawsuit that “The Buhari government is failing to honor its international obligations legal obligations to ensure that the country’s oil wealth is used solely for the benefit of Nigerians and that the wealth does not end up in private pockets.”
The plaintiffs are also arguing that “Poor and socio-economically vulnerable Nigerians have continued to pay the price for the stealing of the country’s oil wealth apparently by both state and non-state actors.”