Former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, has revealed that oil marketers used fake documents to steal billions of naira from Nigeria’s petrol subsidy fund.
In his new book titled “The Shadow of Loot & Losses: Uncovering Nigeria’s Petroleum Subsidy Fraud,” Bawa said some marketers forged up to 24 different documents, including marine insurance certificates, bills of lading, and government approvals.
“These marketers went as far as fabricating over 20 documents just to receive illegal subsidy payments. It was one of the most common and dangerous frauds in the petroleum sector, especially after 2010,” Bawa wrote.
He said the EFCC discovered that oil marketing companies often lied about how much petrol they imported. They used fake papers to inflate their claims and collect more money from the government than they deserved.
“The fraud involved altering import quantities. Since subsidy payments are based on how much fuel is brought in, changing the numbers meant bigger payouts,” he explained.
Bawa said the EFCC recovered over ₦30 billion from marketers involved in these illegal activities while he was in office from February 2021 to June 2023.
He also explained that the fraud was not done by marketers alone. Many depot owners, surveyors, and even government officials helped make it possible.
“Some officials knowingly or unknowingly stamped and signed these fake documents,” Bawa stated.
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One example in the book involved a company Bawa referred to as ZZZ Limited. In 2011, the firm received a permit to import 10,000 metric tons of petrol. However, it only brought in half that amount but still collected ₦1.4 billion from the government.
Bawa wrote, “On the surface, it looked like a legal transaction. But the EFCC found that ZZZ only imported 5 million litres instead of the claimed 12 million litres. The company used 24 forged documents to back up its false claims.”
These fake documents included insurance papers, invoices, discharge certificates, and approval pages from government agencies like the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA).
Bawa said even with the involvement of agencies such as the Nigerian Navy, Customs, and NIMASA, the fraud went unnoticed for years because of a system filled with weaknesses and a lack of oversight.
His book comes at a time when Nigerians are still debating the country’s past fuel subsidy payments. President Bola Tinubu ended the petrol subsidy in May 2023. According to the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Nigeria spent more than ₦13 trillion on subsidies between 2005 and 2021.
Bawa’s revelations have reignited calls for the arrest and prosecution of those involved.
He said, “The scale of this fraud shows how deeply the system was broken. Many of those involved in this theft have still not faced justice.”