…Nigeria lost $450m, 80% of stolen funds recovered
Former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, has revealed that Nigeria’s law enforcement agencies were among those who benefited from the infamous petrol subsidy fraud that rocked the country between 2006 and 2012.
Bawa made the explosive revelation while speaking on Arise Television’s Prime Time on Monday, adding weight to the damning findings documented in his newly released book titled“The Shadow of Loot & Losses: Uncovering Nigeria’s Petroleum Subsidy Fraud.”
According to Bawa, Nigeria lost a staggering $450 million under the Petroleum Support Fund (PSF) scheme during the six-year period.
The fraud, he said, was not only widespread among oil marketers but also penetrated critical institutions meant to safeguard public interest.
“Everybody was benefitting from the scale and the scam, including law enforcement,” Bawa said. “People can be compromised in such a way that they will look the other way. It’s a general thing.”
He disclosed that while some indicted oil marketers were prosecuted and jailed, the anti-graft agency was able to recover 80 percent of the looted funds, a rare feat in Nigeria’s chequered fight against corruption.
The former EFCC boss also challenged the prevailing global perception that Nigeria is incapable of managing recovered loots, especially the recurring narrative of “relooting the loot” by public officials.
“This idea of ‘relooting the loot’ shouldn’t be discussed against us as a country. Nigerians and non-Nigerians should be able to trust in our leaders,” he said.
Bawa lamented that many Nigerians have now internalised the international community’s negative views of the country, especially in relation to corruption.
“It has now become like a norm among us Nigerians to take in what the international community perceives us to be,” he said.
Responding to questions on why successive EFCC chairpersons often leave office under a cloud of suspicion or probe, Bawa brushed off any suggestions of political persecution but acknowledged it as a trend that should be viewed in context.
“It’s just a phase that has to come and go. People always talk. Whether you’re telling the truth or not, people will say something,” he stated.
Bawa, who led the EFCC between 2021 and 2023, was suspended by President Bola Tinubu in June 2023 over allegations of abuse of office.
He was later taken into custody and released in October of the same year after months of detention by the Department of State Services (DSS).
The subsidy regime, particularly under the PSF, has long been described as one of the most opaque and corruption-prone sectors in Nigeria’s economic history.
Various probes, including those by the National Assembly, had previously indicted top oil marketers and government officials for inflating fuel import figures and submitting fraudulent claims to siphon billions of dollars in subsidy payments.
While Bawa’s book provides a detailed insider account of the fraud, its implications for Nigeria’s justice system, institutional integrity, and international image may spark renewed calls for deeper reforms and transparency in the oil sector.
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