Refinery Fraud: EFCC Recovers Billions, Moves to Prosecute Ex-NNPCL Officials

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has recovered more than N5 billion and $10 million from contractors and former officials implicated in the fraudulent turnaround maintenance of Nigeria’s refineries in Port Harcourt, Kaduna, and Warri.

Investigators are also working to trace and recover an additional N10 billion and \$13 million believed to have been siphoned through inflated contracts and questionable payments. The EFCC chairman, Ola Olukoyede, is said to be directly overseeing the probe, reflecting his frustration over the non-functional state of the country’s refineries despite decades of huge public investments.

Nigeria’s four refineries have remained largely dormant, forcing the country to rely on imported petroleum products. Successive governments have spent billions of dollars on rehabilitation projects, but the facilities have consistently failed to deliver.

According to EFCC sources, investigations have flagged over-invoicing, contract inflation, and fraudulent transactions as major factors behind the refineries’ collapse. Specifically, $1.55 billion was allocated to the Port Harcourt refinery, $740.6 million to Kaduna, and $656.9 million to Warri, with little to show for the expenditures.

Former management teams of the refineries have been interrogated multiple times, and the commission has concluded investigations into some officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited. Charges are expected to be filed soon against both serving and retired executives.

One senior EFCC official disclosed that \$10 million and N5 billion had so far been recovered from indicted contractors and government officials, adding that more recoveries were underway. Another \$13 million and N10 billion are still being traced, while fresh allegations of contract inflation amounting to $40 million are under scrutiny.

Efforts to reach the EFCC’s Head of Media and Publicity, Dele Oyewale, were unsuccessful, but a senior official of the commission confirmed the recoveries on condition of anonymity.