The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday hauled in Umar Ajiya Isa, the former CFO of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), over an eye-watering $7.2 billion refinery rehabilitation fraud.
Isa is accused of orchestrating the diversion of funds earmarked for the Turn-Around Maintenance (TAM) of Kaduna, Warri and Port Harcourt refineries, with kickbacks funnelled through shell contractors.
Also in custody is ex-Warri Refinery MD Jimoh Olasunkanmi, alongside other senior NNPC figures under investigation for abuse of office and massive corruption.
This exposes the rotten core of a sector plagued by decades of neglect.
Until 2016, Nigeria’s state-owned refineries boasted a combined 450,000 barrels-per-day capacity; since then they’ve limped along at near zero throughput, only scratching minimal rates of 5–20kbd despite repeated pledges to revive them.
Billions have vanished into the abyss of ailing infrastructure and opaque accounting.
Worse still, nearly $3 billion has already been disbursed for these rehabilitation contracts, yet domestic output remains negligible.
Nigeria imported fuel worth N15.42 trillion in 2024 alone—evidence that energy security is a mirage as long as vultures feast on public coffers.
Even the US$19 billion Dangote Refinery’s promise cannot mask the state’s chronic mismanagement and the urgent need for a forensic audit at the NNPC.
