Anietie Udobit, Abuja
The former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, has written a book on the fraud in Nigeria’s petrol subsidy scheme.
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The book, published by Cable Books, is titled ‘The Shadow of Loot & Losses: Uncovering Nigeria’s Petroleum Subsidy Fraud’ and will be released on June 5.
Cable Books is an imprint of Cable Media and Publishing Ltd. The book will be distributed nationwide by Roving Heights Bookstore.
In the book, Bawa detailed how the petrol subsidy scheme was used to siphon public funds, drawing from his experience as a key investigator on the EFCC’s special team that probed the 2012 subsidy fraud.
The former EFCC boss, who served the anti-graft agency from February 2021 to June 2023, highlighted how billions of naira were recovered and several culprits were prosecuted.
He also detailed how entrenched corruption allowed the fraud to flourish for years and the strategies deployed to engage in the fraud, including ghost importing and over-invoicing; manipulation of bills of lading; round-tripping and double claims; and diversion and smuggling.
The ex-EFCC chairman explained that the practices were enabled by forged documents, weak regulatory oversight, and systemic collusion between corrupt government officials and private sector actors.
Bawa said the book is not just a chronicle of fraud but a call to action and transparency in public finance management in Nigeria.