N80billion cash found in sacked Managing Director’s bank accounts
*Port Harcourt, Warri, Kaduna refineries’ MDs arrested
*Kyari, 13 senior ex-NNPCL officials face probe
*“The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is investigating a case of abuse of office and misappropriation of funds in which the officials of your organisation featured. In view of the above, you are kindly requested to furnish certified true copies of their emoluments and allowances, including that of those who have retired and no longer work with your organisation”-EFCC
*BY HILARU NURENI/SPECIAL Anti-Graft Correspondent, Abuja, NAIJA STANDARD NEWSPAPER Inc USA
SHOCKING REVELATIONS has revealed the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPC, as a cesspit of corruption, having discovered a huge sum of $3billion discovered missing in the establishment. Another 80billion Naira cash had been traced to the bank account of the sacked Managing Director of the corporation.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has arrested the recently sacked managing directors and some top officials of the Port Harcourt Refining Company, Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company, and Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company.
The officials were arrested over alleged mismanagement of funds earmarked for the rehabilitation of the facilities. The total amount under investigation is $2,956,872,622.36.
Findings by Saturday PUNCH showed that the EFCC is probing the sum of $1,559,239,084.36 allocated to the Port Harcourt refinery, $740,669,600 released for the Kaduna refinery, and $656,963,938 approved for the Warri refinery.
The ex-Managing Director of Port Harcourt Refining Company Ltd is Mr. Ibrahim Onoja, while Efifia Chu served as the ex-Managing Director of the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company Ltd.
This came as impeccable top management sources at the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited revealed that N80bn was found in the account of one of the sacked MDs.
Also, operators and experts in the sector lambasted NNPCL for deceiving Nigerians regarding the operations of the refineries, particularly the Port Harcourt and Warri plants, following the poor output from the facilities since their resumption of operations in November and December 2024.
NNPCL manages the three refineries for Nigerians. The plants had remained dormant for decades, but the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries resumed operations in November and December 2024, respectively.
However, less than one month after the Warri refinery resumed operations, the plant was again shut down due to safety concerns.
The Port Harcourt refinery, on the other hand, has been operating below 40 per cent of its capacity since its widely celebrated revamp.
On Tuesday, The PUNCH exclusively reported that the new NNPCL management fired the managing directors of the three refineries under its purview.
Some other senior officials of the national oil firm were also asked to leave; among them was Bala Wunti, a former chief of the National Petroleum Investment Management Services, a subsidiary of the NNPCL.
The new management also asked many officials with one year to their various retirement dates to leave.
On Friday, a senior EFCC source, who spoke with Saturday PUNCH on the condition of anonymity due to the lack of authorization to speak on the matter, revealed that the arrests of the three ex-MDs and top officials were part of an ongoing investigation into the billions of dollars released for the quick-fix maintenance of the three state-owned refineries.
“We are investigating the money that was released for the rehabilitation of all three refineries-money disbursed in recent times. All the principal officers within that time frame are being invited.
“Some have been arrested already, and we are still on the lookout for others. Nigerians are interested in seeing our refineries work. We are asking: where is the money, and what has happened to the refineries?” the official said.
The source added that the investigation was far-reaching, covering all key actors involved in the management of the refineries during the period in question.
The EFCC spokesman, Dele Oyewale, could not be reached as of the time of filing this report.
Earlier, sources at the NNPCL told Saturday PUNCH that one of the sacked MDs had been with the EFCC for about a week.
“Large amounts have been discovered in his accounts. About N80bn has so far been discovered in his various accounts. The way things are going, it may be bigger than Emefielegate,” the official, who spoke in confidence due to the nature of the probe, stated.
Another official stated, “All the three of them are being investigated by the EFCC. It is indeed sad!”
*Kyari under probe:
A document obtained by our correspondent on Friday from NNPCL, dated April 28, 2025, and titled, ‘Investigation Activities: Request for Information’, indicated that the probe by EFCC included the immediate past Group Chief Executive Officer of the national oil firm, Mele Kyari.
The EFCC document was addressed to the Group Managing Director (Group Chief Executive Officer) of the national oil company and contained the names of 13 other former senior executives of the NNPCL.
“The commission is investigating a case of abuse of office and misappropriation of funds in which the underlisted officials of your organisation featured,” the document stated.
It outlined the officials to include Abubakar Yar’Adua, Mele Kyari, Isiaka Abdulrazak, Umar Ajiya, Dikko Ahmed, Ibrahim Onoja, Ademoye Jelili, and Mustapha Sugungun.
Others are Kayode Adetokunbo, Efiok Akpan, Babatunde Bakare, Jimoh Olasunkanmi, Bello Kankaya and Desmond Inyama.
“In view of the above, you are kindly requested to furnish certified true copies of their emoluments and allowances, including that of those who have retired and no longer work with your organisation,” the anti-graft commission told the NNPCL boss.
The spokesperson for the NNPCL, Olufemi Soneye, has remained mute over allegations against top officials of the company, as he ignored repeated enquiries on the matter.
*Lies uncovered:
Although this is not the first time the company has feigned the effectiveness of its operations, citizens have noted that the lack of transparency not only deepens public distrust but also fuels speculation about the company’s true intentions and the actual state of Nigeria’s oil infrastructure.
On Tuesday, The PUNCH exclusively reported that the NNPCL came under fire as the $897m Warri refinery revamp flopped.
The report also stated that the $1.5bn newly repaired Port Harcourt refinery had been struggling at under 37.87 per cent production capacity.
This was after the revelation that the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company had remained shut since January 25, 2025, due to safety issues in its Crude Distillation Unit Main Heater.
An April 2025 document on the Midstream and Downstream sector obtained from the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority revealed that the refinery, which consumed $897.6m in maintenance costs, failed to produce Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) and was shut down barely a month after former NNPCL boss, Kyari, declared it operational.
An investigation by Saturday PUNCH on January 5, 2025, revealed that skeletal activities were ongoing at the WRPC, compared with the heyday of the refinery when the company was working at full capacity. But NNPCL debunked this, stressing that production was ongoing.
The PUNCH reports that the 125,000 barrels per day capacity Warri refinery, which had been moribund for decades due to technical issues, was brought back to life by the national oil company on December 30, 2024.
*The Warri refinery:
Situated in Ekpan, Uwvie, and Ubeji areas of Warri, the petrochemical plant has an annual production capacity of 13,000 metric tonnes of polypropylene and 18,000 metric tonnes of carbon black.
Commissioned in 1978, the WRPC is operated by the NNPC and was established to cater to the markets in Nigeria’s southern and southwestern regions.
The PUNCH reported that President Bola Tinubu commended the NNPCL for completing the refurbishment of the 125,000-bpd capacity Warri refinery, which reportedly kicked off operations at 60 per cent capacity.
It is focused on producing and storing critical products, including Straight Run Kerosene, Automotive Gas Oil (diesel), and heavy and light Naphtha.
A month earlier, the national oil company, at a much-publicised event, announced the revitalisation of the 60,000 barrels per day old Port Harcourt refinery.
The $1.5bn rehabilitation project, funded through a loan facility backed by international financial institutions, was projected to restore the state-owned facility to full operational status after years of dormancy and seven postponements, with the latest failure occurring in September 2024, from its earlier target of December 2023.
But a few days after the fanfare, a visit by Saturday PUNCH to the refinery revealed that there was no activity on site, as some workers met by our correspondent claimed that the refinery was undergoing calibration. This was also denied by the company.
The NNPCL spokesperson, Soneye, had said that the refinery recommissioned on November 26, 2024, was operating at 70 per cent of its installed capacity, with plans to increase output to 90 per cent in subsequent months.
At its recommissioning, the state-owned firm stated that the Port Harcourt refinery would produce daily outputs of 1.4 million litres of Straight-Run Gasoline blended into Premium Motor Spirit, 900,000 litres of Kerosene, 1.5 million litres of Automotive Gas Oil, 2.1 million litres of Low Pour Fuel Oil, and additional volumes of Liquefied Petroleum Gas.
The new NMDPRA document highlighting the refinery’s true state, however, linked the shutdown of WRPC to critical faults in the refinery’s Crude Distillation Unit Main Heater.
“The Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company was shut down on 25th Jan. 2025 due to safety concerns over the CDU Main Heater,” the document stated.
The PHRC facility, on its part, did not exceed 42.23 per cent of its operational capacity within the six months.
At another visit on Friday to the Warri refinery by Saturday PUNCH, some members of staff who were seen around the premises declined to comment on the situation at the refinery.
Non-staff members were denied access to the complex, as security operatives at the main gate insisted they were working on instructions.
Marketers contacted also lamented they had been unable to lift petroleum products at the refinery.
Our correspondent did not see fuel-laden trucks either coming in or going out of the refinery during the visit.
*IPMAN worried, PETROAN demands probe:
The Delta State Chairman of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Harry Okenini, speaking with Saturday PUNCH, expressed worry over the non-production of petrol at the Warri refinery, months after the announced completion of its rehabilitation.
The IPMAN boss said, “Since the inauguration of the rehabilitated Warri refinery on January 5, 2025, there has been no green light for IPMAN to lift petroleum products from the facility.
“For the past months, there has been no product for marketers here, and we cannot just stay idle, so we decided to source products from the private depots.
“These private depot owners, today they will increase the price; tomorrow they will increase it again. So, the whole thing has caused problems for the business.”
He appealed to the Federal Government to give the newly-appointed board of the NNPCL a free hand to work.
Also, the Petroleum Products Retail Outlet Owners Association of Nigeria called for an investigation into the condition of the refineries.
Challenged by one of our correspondents to defend its earlier claims that the refineries were supplying fuel to its members, PETROAN National President, Billy Gillis-Harry, said the refineries were working at the time he and his team visited the sites.
He said, “We had very clear knowledge because we had a technical team with us, and the evaluation showed that there was hope for these refineries to work. We are not the contractors; we are not the ones who maintain them.
“So, we went home with the fact that we saw the refineries working and the furnaces were lighting up. But if today they are not working, then, of course, PETROAN probably needs to revisit and check what happened and what didn’t happen, which we are going to do.
“Since this news came out, I have had meetings with NMDPRA and a few other critical leaders in the industry.
“For us, we want to encourage the system to be very efficient. But if what has been done is not good enough, of course, you can see that punishment is being meted out to those who managed it. So, we hope that things will become much better.”
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