A Federal High Court has struck out a suit filed by civil society organisation Social Action seeking the release of the Niger Delta Development Commission’s long-suppressed forensic audit report not on the merits of the case, but because the action was filed against a non-existent defendant, a procedural error that has derailed the transparency push without resolving the underlying question of public accountability.
The court struck out the suit after determining that the defendant named in the action does not legally exist, rendering the case incompetent before it could be heard. The dismissal on such technical grounds means the court made no ruling on whether the federal government is obligated to release the NDDC audit report, leaving that central question unresolved.
Social Action, a Port Harcourt-based civil society organisation that has been one of the most persistent advocates for the public release of the NDDC forensic audit report since its submission to the federal government in September 2021, had filed the suit seeking a court order compelling the disclosure of the report. Details of the specific defendant named in the suit were not immediately available at the time of filing this report.
The NDDC forensic audit report, submitted to the federal government on September 2, 2021, covers the commission’s financial activities between 2000 and 2019 and reportedly documents the alleged misappropriation of over N6 trillion linked to more than 13,000 abandoned projects across the Niger Delta region. Despite repeated demands from civil society organisations, communities, and the courts, the report has never been officially made public.
Social Action has been at the forefront of this fight for years. The organisation issued public calls as far back as August 2021 demanding the immediate release of the report, warning that government silence amounted to a “deliberate attempt to sweep the findings of the forensic audit under the carpet.” It organised town hall meetings with oil host communities and traditional rulers to galvanise public pressure, and has repeatedly called for the prosecution of those indicted in the report.
In November 2025, a Federal High Court in Abuja ordered President Bola Tinubu to publish the forensic audit report and direct the Attorney-General of the Federation to widely disclose the names of those indicted for the alleged misappropriation of funds. That order, secured by SERAP through a Freedom of Information suit, has also not been complied with.
The striking out of Social Action’s suit on a technicality adds to a discouraging pattern in the battle to make the NDDC audit report public. While courts have shown willingness to affirm the public’s right to the report, enforcement remains elusive and procedural obstacles continue to frustrate accountability efforts before they reach the merits stage.
Social Action has not indicated whether it intends to refile the suit with the correct defendant. The NDDC forensic audit report, more than four years after its submission to the federal government, remains officially unpublished.