According to sources, Mr Isa was detained by the agency along with a former Managing Director of Warri Refinery, Jimoh Olasunkanmi.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arrested a former Chief Financial Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, (NNPC) Limited, Umar Ajiya Isa.
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PREMIUM TIMES, on Monday, learnt from the commission’s officials briefed on the development, that Mr Isa was arrested in connection with alleged $7.2billion fraud associated with the rehabilitation of the Kaduna, Warri and Port Harcourt refineries.
The three refineries have underperformed and recorded zero production over the years despite annual allocation of turnaround maintenance to them.
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According to the sources, Mr Isa was detained by the agency along with a former Managing Director of Warri Refinery, Jimoh Olasunkanmi.
Mr Isa, as CFO, was in charge of release of funds for the Turn Around Maintenance of the three refineries.
Sources said the three key officials and others involved in other NNPC projects are being investigated for alleged abuse of office, corruption, diversion of funds and kickbacks from contractors.
Other officials also facing probe are Tunde Bakare, Managing Director, Warri Refinery; Ahmed Adamu Dikko, former Managing Director, Port Harcourt Refinery, and Ibrahim Monday Onoja, former Managing Director, Port Harcourt Refinery.
EFCC’s spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, could not be reached for his comments.
Background
PREMIUM TIMES reported last month that EFCC launched an investigation into alleged abuse of office and misappropriation of funds involving several former NNPC executives, including the immediate past Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari, and his predecessor, Abubakar Yar’Adua.
According to the report, a letter dated 28 April and addressed to the current NNPC management, revealed that the anti-graft agency is probing the disbursement of over $2.9 billion approved for the rehabilitation of Nigeria’s three state-owned refineries.
The letter, with reference number CR:3000/EFCC/ABJ/HQ/SDC.2/NNPC/VOL.1/698, requested certified salary and allowance records of 14 current and former senior executives, including Messrs Kyari, Yar’Adua, and former refinery managing directors Ibrahim Onoja (PHRC), Mustafa Sugungun (KRPC), and Efifia Chu (WRPC).
The funds under investigation include $1.56 billion allocated to the Port Harcourt refinery, $740.6 million for Kaduna, and $656.9 million for Warri, which were released under a controversial rehabilitation scheme.
Several of the listed officials had either been sacked or retired, following a shake-up initiated by President Bola Tinubu, who also dissolved the NNPC board and appointed a new management team led by Bayo Ojulari as GCEO and Ahmadu Kida as board chair.
The Punch newspaper also reported in May that multiple sources confirmed that the EFCC arrested some of the former refinery managing directors and other officials in connection with the alleged diversion of funds.
It said that investigators reportedly uncovered about N80 billion in the personal accounts of one of the sacked MDs.
The developments coincided with a forensic audit of NNPC ordered by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, who stated that the company must increase its dollar contributions amid Nigeria’s ongoing fiscal reforms.
Despite the massive financial injection into the refineries, public records and site visits indicate that the facilities have largely failed to resume meaningful operations.
The Warri refinery, which was reopened in December 2024, shut down in January due to safety issues, while the Port Harcourt refinery has operated below 42 per cent of its installed capacity.
Industry experts, including Kelvin Emmanuel and Dan Kunle, have accused NNPCL of misleading the public with staged recommissioning events and called the entire rehabilitation effort a “charade.”
They criticised the use of alternative contractors instead of the refineries’ original builders and questioned the logic of investing in facilities lacking critical infrastructure like crude supply pipelines.
The situation has triggered concerns among petroleum marketers and labour groups. The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) and the Petroleum Products Retail Outlet Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) expressed reservations about the refineries’ non-performance, while support staff members at the Warri refinery have threatened an indefinite strike over poor pay and working conditions.
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