The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission recovered about N13bn as proceeds of illegal payments made under the subsidy regime between 2017 and 2021. This was based on the National inherent risk assessment of money laundering and terrorist financing in the Nigerian extractive sector document obtained by our correspondent from the website of the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit.

The report read in part, “The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the agency responsible for the investigation and prosecution of fraudulent subsidies in the oil and gas in Nigeria recovered N12,998,963,178.29 as proceeds of illegal payment made under the subsidy regime between 2017 and 2021.” A tabular breakdown showed that approximately N4.67bn was recovered in 2017, N4.29bn in 2018, N2.41bn in 2019, N416.51m in 2020 and N1.22bn in 2021. It was further noted in the report that there were several opportunities for fraudulent activities in the oil and gas sector.

The report added, “Opportunities for fraudulent activities exist in the oil and gas sector from extraction to sales of refined products to consumers. The absence of reliable equipment to measure the volume of crude oil being extracted makes it impossible to estimate the volume of crude oil extracted and even stolen through oil theft and vandalism. Oil theft also occurs in the downstream sector, as petrol pumps are rigged at petrol stations or adulterated.