Contract Fraud: Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority DG Yau Usman Idris Misappropriated N6.69 Billion

Secrets Reporters

A review of the Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority’s under the leadership of Dr. Yau Usman Idris in the year 2022 and 2023 financial records has uncovered ₦6,688,904,707.35 nearly ₦6.7 billion in contract fraud and procurement violations spread across twelve separate findings, making it one of the largest concentrations of irregularity documented in this year’s federal review cycle.

The findings place the spotlight squarely on Dr. Yau Usman Idris, who has served as Director General of the NNRA since his appointment by President Muhammadu Buhari in May 2020. His tenure spans the entire period examined, and he remains in the role today. As the authority’s chief executive and accounting officer, responsibility for a procurement environment that permitted this scale of fraud rests with his administration.

The single largest finding involves ₦2,977,493,452.00 paid for constituency and zonal intervention projects executed without approval from relevant authorities; nearly ₦3 billion routed through a nuclear safety regulator for projects that never received proper sign-off.

A further ₦1,427,545,477.00 went to contracts awarded to related contractors, companies whose ownership connections to the NNRA or its officials raise direct conflict-of-interest concerns. Another ₦474,612,500.00 involved irregular award and inflated contract pricing tied specifically to a radiology centre project, a facility whose integrity should matter enormously to an authority that regulates radiological safety.

The findings continue: ₦306,649,776.00 was tied to irregular payment for the purchase, installation, and training on medical equipment. ₦293,128,661.35 went to a contractor found ineligible. ₦279,981,233.00 involved irregularities spanning the award, execution, and payment of a contract. ₦264,244,990.00 was paid for a contract that was never executed at all. ₦252,031,250.00 in additional contract awards were found irregular. ₦199,585,535.00 was paid to unregistered and unaccredited consultants for training and empowerment work. ₦117,176,513.00 in contingencies, provisional sums, and preliminaries built into contracts went unaccounted for. ₦74,955,320.00 was paid for capacity-building programmes with no evidence they were ever executed. And ₦21,500,000.00 involved a further contract award irregularity.

There is a specific irony in these findings that should trouble every Nigerian. The very authority tasked with certifying that radiological equipment  from hospital radiology centres to industrial radioactive sources meets rigorous safety and procurement standards  cannot itself demonstrate that its own contracts for a radiology centre project were properly awarded, priced, or executed.

The laws broken here span the full range of Nigeria’s public procurement and financial regulations. The Public Procurement Act 2007 requires competitive, arm’s-length contracting free of related-party conflicts  violated by the ₦1.43 billion awarded to related contractors. The same Act requires verified contractor eligibility and accreditation  violated by ₦293.13 million to an ineligible contractor and ₦199.59 million to unregistered, unaccredited consultants. Paragraph 708 of the Financial Regulations 2009 prohibits payment for goods or services not supplied violated outright by the ₦264.24 million paid for a contract never executed.