Toba Owojaiye reporting
Abuja, Nigeria
In a damning exposé that reinforces growing concerns about entrenched corporate fraud in Nigeria, former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, has laid bare the systemic document forgery and grand-scale corruption that plagued Nigeria’s petrol subsidy regime.
Truth Live News gathered that according to Bawa, scores of oil marketing companies systematically forged up to 24 different types of documents—ranging from marine insurance certificates, bills of lading, surveyor reports, to government authorisation, to illegitimately access billions of naira in subsidy claims under the now-defunct Petroleum Support Fund (PSF). These revelations are detailed in his newly released book, “The Shadow of Loot & Losses: Uncovering Nigeria’s Petroleum Subsidy Fraud”, obtained exclusively by our correspondent.
“The manipulation of import quantities by oil marketing companies to fraudulently increase subsidy payments represents one of the most prevalent forms of fraud observed in the sector, especially from late 2010 onwards,” Bawa writes. “The calculation of subsidy claims follows a straightforward formula: landing cost minus ex-depot price multiplied by quantity imported. Any volume change directly impacts the subsidy claim.”
Bawa’s investigations during his tenure (February 2021 – June 2023) revealed how some marketers, often in collusion with corrupt depot owners, surveyors, and regulatory officials, forged hundreds of documents to inflate the quantity of petroleum products supposedly imported. In many cases, these forged papers were stamped and endorsed, either knowingly or negligently, by public officials.
“Every subsidy fraud case investigated by the EFCC contained instances of forged documents,” he said. “Some cases involved just one forged bill of lading. Others involved over 20 fabricated documents created to support a single fraudulent claim.”
The EFCC’s findings estimated the illicit gains from such subsidy scams to exceed N30 billion, underscoring a deeply flawed regulatory oversight framework and the scale of corporate complicity.
A striking example detailed in the book involves a firm pseudonymously referred to as ZZZ Limited. In the second quarter of 2011, the company was granted a permit by the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) to import 10,000 metric tons of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS). However, Bawa’s investigation revealed that only 5,000 metric tons were actually imported.
To cover up the shortfall and still claim full subsidy, ZZZ Limited allegedly deployed forged pro forma invoices, fake discharge certificates at Offshore Cotonou, and tampered bills of lading. Surveyors and depot managers were shown to have signed off on documents confirming product delivery that never occurred.
This fraudulent subsidy claim was subsequently paid out by the government—one of dozens of such cases replicated across the industry.
The revelations present a cautionary tale of how corporate greed, combined with regulatory weaknesses, can undermine national fiscal policies and erode public trust.
“The fraud perpetrated by oil marketing companies extends beyond the use of forged documents,” Bawa notes. “It involves a coordinated conspiracy among various stakeholders… falsely claiming to have witnessed the discharge of products at depots, thereby facilitating the fraud.”
He added that while some regulatory officials knowingly participated in the fraud, others—through negligence or lack of diligence—became unwitting enablers. The absence of real-time cross-agency verification mechanisms contributed significantly to the scale of the fraud.
Bawa’s exposé comes at a crucial time when Nigeria is intensifying efforts to reform its petroleum sector, improve public finance integrity, and attract foreign investment. The revelations in The Shadow of Loot & Losses signal a call to action—demanding stronger institutional accountability, forensic audit capabilities, and transparency in government subsidy schemes.
Experts say that without prosecuting offenders and revamping the subsidy verification process, any new fiscal incentive scheme remains vulnerable.
As Nigeria navigates a post-subsidy era, Bawa’s insights serve as a stark reminder: corruption thrives not just through individual greed, but through coordinated networks of compromise within both the private and public sectors.
Reforms must move beyond policy pronouncements. They must be backed by technological systems, whistleblower protections, inter-agency intelligence sharing, and an empowered judiciary. Otherwise, the ghost of past subsidy fraud will continue haunt Nigeria.