Several senior figures linked to the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari are being investigated and prosecuted for alleged corruption totalling an estimated N3.47 trillion.
The scale of the allegations, unfolding amid a crippling debt burden left behind by the Buhari-led administration, has reignited debates over accountability, selective justice, and the true cost of Buhari’s eight-year presidency, reports The Guardian.
At the centre of the storm are former ministers and top officials widely perceived as close allies of the late past president and members of the current ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is currently investigating Chris Ngige, a former Minister of Labour, over an alleged N2.2 billion fraud.
In November, the commission declared a former Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, wanted in connection with an alleged N21.4 billion fraud. Sylva worked directly with Buhari, who also served as the President and substantive Minister of Petroleum Resources.
The former minister of aviation and close political associate, Hadi Sirika, is also facing charges over an alleged N2.7 billion fraud linked to aviation projects.
The most far-reaching allegations surround the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, whose tenure coincided with some of Nigeria’s most audacious monetary interventions and biggest quantitative easing in the form of ways and means. The EFCC has accused Emefiele of arbitrarily allocating N3 trillion worth of foreign exchange, equivalent to $2 billion, without competitive bids or due process, allegedly conferring undue advantages on associates.
Investigators further allege that he operated 593 bank accounts across different countries, unlawfully acquired a 753-unit housing estate in Abuja and illegally mismanaged more than N16 billion.
Court filings also show that between 2019 and 2022, Emefiele allegedly warehoused funds in proxy accounts linked to Kelvito Integrated Services, amounting to N167 million in 2019, N1.23 billion in 2020, N2.94 billion in 2021, and N1.98 billion in 2022, totalling over N6.3 billion.
Another N900 million was allegedly held in an Ifeadigo Integrated Services account.
The EFCC further claims that a request for the payment of $6.2 million, equivalent to N8.8 billion, to foreign election observers was forged.
Beyond the financial system, the EFCC is prosecuting former Minister of Power, Saleh Mamman, who has been ordered by a Federal High Court in Abuja to answer to a N33.8 billion money laundering trial. Similarly, the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development, under the former minister, Sadiya Umar-Farouk, is accused of laundering N37 billion meant for social intervention programmes.
Collectively, the allegations involving Buhari-era officials total an estimated N471 billion in direct naira figures. When the alleged $2 billion forex allocation is factored in, the total could be approximately N3.47 trillion, highlighting the staggering magnitude of the cases confronting anti-graft investigators.
The timing of the cases has heightened scrutiny of stewardship under Buhari. As of December 2015, Nigeria’s total debt stood at $65.42 billion.
Although there was a brief dip in 2016, the debt trajectory quickly reversed, rising steadily through Buhari’s two terms. By 2019, total debt had climbed to $84.57 billion. In 2020, it rose to $87.24 billion, and by June 2021, it reached $95.77 billion, with domestic debt alone estimated at N35 trillion.
By the end of 2022, Nigeria’s debt portfolio had ballooned to N46.25 trillion. Estimates indicated that by May 29, 2023, Buhari handed over a total debt burden of about N77 trillion, a figure that continues to weigh heavily on fiscal sustainability.
Analysts argued that the corruption allegations cannot be separated from the debt narrative. While the government borrowed aggressively to fund infrastructure and stabilise the economy, critics say weak oversight, opaque monetary interventions and politicised spending created fertile ground for abuse.
Supporters of the former administration, however, insisted that many of the EFCC’s actions are politically motivated and aimed at rewriting the legacy of Buhari’s anti-corruption stance.
As the EFCC presses ahead, the unfolding legal battles are likely to test not only the credibility of Nigeria’s anti-graft institutions but also the country’s willingness to confront the structural failures that allowed corruption to thrive alongside unprecedented borrowing.
Scholars and governance experts have raised fresh concerns about Nigeria’s public finance and accountability systems following reports of investigations into alleged corruption running into trillions of naira under the previous administration.
A professor of economics at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Emmanuel Nwosu, stated that the scale of alleged fraud indicates significant flaws in the country’s accounting and auditing frameworks.
He argued that corruption in poor countries such as Nigeria differs markedly from that in middle-income economies.
“The type of corruption we see in poor countries that have jumped to ostentatious consumption without industrialisation is different. If people can be charged with corruption to the tune of N3 trillion, something is fundamentally wrong with public sector accounting and auditing. If these systems worked as they should, nobody could steal one kobo from the government,” Nwosu said.
Nwosu also questioned the fiscal narrative around fuel subsidy removal, noting that Nigerians continue to pay high prices for petrol without clarity on how savings from subsidy removal are being utilised.
“If the subsidy was removed, where is the N16 billion daily subsidy money that Nigerians were told about?” he asked.
Governance and public financial management expert Prof. Chiwuike Uba stated that the situation had not significantly improved under the current administration, lamenting that many high-profile investigations rarely result in convictions.
He warned that allegations of corruption involving borrowed funds had direct consequences for ordinary Nigerians.
“Much of this money was borrowed, which means citizens are already paying through higher taxes, inflation and declining public services,” Uba said,” adding, “they will continue paying through debt repayments that crowd out spending on health, education and infrastructure.”
Uba noted that, despite fiscal windfalls from the removal of fuel subsidies, increased tax revenues, and foreign exchange gains, borrowing by governments at both the federal and state levels continues to rise.
“For the average citizen, this contradiction shows up in worsening roads, poorly equipped hospitals and overcrowded schools. Corruption is not an abstract problem. It is a daily tax on ordinary Nigerians. Until institutions are strong enough to make corruption difficult, costly and swiftly punishable, the cycle will persist,” Uba said.
A former president of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), Prof. Segun Ajibola, said anti-corruption agencies need to refocus their priorities.
While acknowledging that corruption remained endemic across sectors, he criticised what he described as the misdirection of enforcement efforts.
“Anti-corruption agencies should pay more attention to mega frauds rather than dissipating energy pursuing yahoo boys here and there,” Ajibola said.
He called for tougher anti-corruption laws and cited China’s zero-tolerance approach as an example of decisive reform.
Ajibola also expressed concern that individuals who previously presented themselves as activists or public defenders often faltered when given positions of authority.
“What we are seeing now is hardly different from previous administrations,” he said, adding that corruption remained particularly tragic in a country grappling with widespread poverty and deprivation.
A professor of management and accounting, Prof Godwin Oyedokun, described the allegations against past administrations as “deeply troubling”, especially given Nigeria’s reliance on borrowing to finance government expenditure.
He warned that persistent corruption scandals suggested the problem was systemic rather than personal.
“When public funds sourced from loans are allegedly misappropriated, the burden falls on present and future generations,” Oyedokun said.
According to him, the debts would be repaid by future generations without seeing corresponding development.
Oyedokun argued that Nigeria’s anti-corruption efforts were largely reactive and selective, often gaining momentum only after officials leave office.
This, he said, undermined public trust and reinforced the perception that accountability was a political rather than an institutional matter.
Legal practitioner Ameh Madaki was more critical of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), accusing the agency of selective prosecution. He said many high-profile cases amounted to “media trials” that eventually fizzled out.
“Nigerians are no longer excited by news of selective prosecutions. The perception, based on antecedents, is that such cases are meant to rattle suspects before quietly fading away. The few that continue are usually low-level cases with little value,” Madaki said.
Experts have insisted that Nigeria must move beyond post-administration probes towards a preventive approach.
They called for stronger public financial management systems, transparent procurement, real-time auditing of borrowed funds and genuine independence for oversight and anti-corruption institutions.
