Nigeria’s former anti-corruption czar, Abdulrasheed Bawa, has pulled back the curtain on what may be the most staggering financial scandal in the nation’s history, an elaborate web of corruption within the fuel subsidy regime that cost Nigeria billions of naira.
In his new tell-all book titled “The Shadow of Loot & Losses: Uncovering Nigeria’s Petroleum Subsidy Fraud”, Bawa reveals jaw-dropping details of how public funds were brazenly looted through ghost fuel imports, forged shipping documents, over-invoicing, and a deep-rooted alliance between corrupt government officials and private oil marketers.
Bawa, who led the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) between 2021 and 2023 under former President Muhammadu Buhari, describes the exposé as both a documentary of grand-scale fraud and a clarion call for urgent reform, transparency, and accountability in Nigeria’s oil sector.
According to a press statement issued by Vic Akinrogunde on behalf of the publishers, the book offers an unprecedented insider perspective into one of Nigeria’s most notorious financial crimes. Drawing from his experience as a lead investigator during the 2012 fuel subsidy probe, Bawa outlines how fraudulent companies routinely claimed subsidies for petrol they never imported or massively inflated shipment volumes to pocket excess payouts.
The former EFCC boss detailed how criminal syndicates manipulated bills of lading to take advantage of fluctuating international oil prices. In a disturbing revelation, he explained how the same fuel shipment would be used to file multiple subsidy claims, while subsidized products were diverted to the black market or smuggled across borders for illicit profit.
“These scams were enabled by an intricate system of forged documentation, weak regulatory oversight, and a toxic blend of political and bureaucratic collusion,” Bawa writes.
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His revelations come at a time when Nigeria is still grappling with the devastating economic fallout of decades of subsidy mismanagement. In 2012, a bold attempt by then-President Goodluck Jonathan to scrap the fuel subsidy triggered widespread protests and nearly shut down the country. In May 2023, President Bola Tinubu finally removed the subsidy, a move that sparked further hardship and reignited public outrage over government waste and mismanagement.
Published by CableBooks, an imprint of Cable Media & Publishing Ltd, The Shadow of Loot & Losses not only documents the mind-boggling levels of fraud in Nigeria’s petroleum industry, it issues a stern warning: unless urgent reforms are implemented, the cycle of corruption will persist and deepen Nigeria’s economic woes.
Bawa, who now joins the ranks of high-profile whistleblowers, does not just name the problems, he challenges the system to fix them. His book is already generating intense buzz among anti-corruption advocates, economists, policy makers, and concerned citizens.
