Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has recovered more than ₦38.66 billion in cash and assets as part of an extensive investigation into the alleged diversion of funds earmarked for the rehabilitation of the country’s state-owned refineries, marking one of the agency’s most significant anti-corruption recoveries in recent years.
The recovered assets comprise ₦9.4 billion in cash, $21.2 million, equivalent to about ₦29.26 billion at the Central Bank of Nigeria’s official exchange rate of ₦1,380 to the dollar and several landed properties believed to have been acquired with proceeds of the alleged fraud.
The investigation focuses on approximately $2.79 billion in refinery rehabilitation contracts awarded by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) between 2021 and 2023. The contracts covered the turnaround maintenance, a comprehensive overhaul designed to restore operational efficiency of the Port Harcourt, Kaduna and Warri refineries.
According to investigators, the contracts included $1.56 billion for the Port Harcourt Refinery, $740.7 million for the Kaduna Refinery and $492.3 million for the Warri Refinery. Despite the substantial expenditure, investigators reportedly found no evidence of improvements commensurate with the funds disbursed, raising concerns that large portions of the money may have been fraudulently diverted.
The EFCC said its probe has uncovered allegations including criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust, money laundering and abuse of office involving current and former NNPCL officials, executives of its engineering subsidiary NETCO, former and serving refinery managing directors, as well as contractors such as Daewoo Engineering Nigeria Limited and Tecnimont SpA.
Investigators have so far questioned more than 30 senior NNPCL officials and over 50 employees of contracting firms. Among those under scrutiny is Ahmed Adamu Dikko, former Managing Director of the Port Harcourt Refinery, from whom the commission reportedly traced assets worth ₦983.9 million, $227,030 and three landed properties.
The anti-graft agency has secured interim forfeiture orders on several recovered properties and is preparing criminal charges against individuals implicated in the investigation. Authorities have also uncovered a separate alleged revenue fraud involving $28.39 million and ₦665 million linked to the management of the Port Harcourt Refining Company.
The investigation comes at a critical time for Nigeria’s energy sector, where successive governments have invested billions of dollars in reviving domestic refining capacity to reduce dependence on imported petroleum products. The outcome of the EFCC’s investigation is expected to influence governance standards within the oil and gas industry, strengthen accountability in public procurement and shape future oversight of strategic infrastructure projects.
