The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arrested Umar Isa, a former Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), over an alleged $7.2 billion fraud linked to the rehabilitation of Nigeria’s major refineries.
Also in EFCC custody is Jimoh Olasunkanmi, a former Managing Director of the Warri Refinery. Both men are being detained in connection with financial irregularities surrounding the failed turnaround maintenance projects for the Kaduna, Warri, and Port Harcourt refineries.
As CFO, Isa reportedly oversaw the disbursement of funds for the refineries’ rehabilitation. He, along with several other former NNPCL officials, is under investigation for alleged abuse of office, corruption, misappropriation of funds, and receiving kickbacks from contractors.
Others under EFCC scrutiny include the current Managing Director of Warri Refinery, Tunde Bakare; former Managing Director of Port Harcourt Refinery, Ahmed Dikko; and Ibrahim Onoja, another former MD of the Port Harcourt facility.
The EFCC has not released an official statement regarding the arrests. Efforts to reach the Commission’s spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, were unsuccessful.
The development follows last week’s damning revelations by the Senate Committee on Public Accounts, chaired by Senator Aliyu Wadada, which uncovered major financial discrepancies in NNPCL’s audited reports. The committee, after reviewing the company’s financial records from 2017 to 2023, described the findings as alarming and directed the NNPCL’s finance team to respond to 11 queries within one week.
