By Muhammadu Sabiu
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, or EFCC, was able to retrieve over N13 billion that was earmarked illegally.
The funds are the profits of unauthorised payments made between 2017 and 2021 under the subsidy regime.
Recall that this was reported in a recent paper on the National Inherent Risk Assessment of Money Laundering in the Nigerian Extractive Sector that was obtained from the website of the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit, or NFIU.
The document stated: “The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the agency responsible for the investigation and prosecution of corrupt subsidies in the oil and gas in Nigeria, recovered N12,998,963,178.29 as proceeds of illegal payment made within the subsidy regime between 2017 and 2021.”
Corruption involving fuel subsidies has raised concerns in Nigeria. For instance, according to the World Bank, increased gasoline subsidies put the Nigerian economy at high risk.
This is because the payments might have a major impact on public finances and raise questions about the sustainability of the country’s debt.
