How Energy Commission of Nigeria DG Mustapha Abdullahi Moved N103.5m to His Own Name, Including Twin Medical Trips

Secrets Reporters

Beyond the contracts, the Energy Commission of Nigeria’s payment records under Dr Mustapha Abdullahi show money flowing to individuals in ways the Financial Regulations were written to restrain.

Payments bearing Abdullahi’s own name total approximately N103.5 million across six payments: N32.17 million as an estacode supplement for a United States OTC conference in May 2025, N20.31 million for a Brazil energy working-group trip, N14.71 million for COP28 in Dubai, and then the striking pair on the same day, May 29, 2024, N9.0 million and N8.5 million described identically as “oversea trip on medical purpose.” Two payments, same day, same described purpose, different amounts. 

Olayande Joseph Sunday received N6.78 million for a trip to Goa, India in December 2023. The records also carry payments for the supply and distribution of 250 bags of rice, a rice line inside an energy commission’s books. Spending public funds on foreign trips and rice distributions at this scale offends the Fiscal Responsibility Act’s requirement that public money serve a proper public purpose.

Then there are the monitoring deductions. Thirteen payments totalling N1.62 billion went to the Federal Sub Treasury described as project-monitoring deductions, including N290.66 million in a single day on March 14, 2025 and N173.77 million described as the 2025 five per cent deduction for project monitoring across 57 paid companies.

This is the context in which the commission’s chief executive sits. On May 13, 2026, EFCC operatives arrested Abdullahi in Abuja over alleged money-laundering offences involving about N500 billion. Abdullahi, through his media aide, denied that he was arrested and said he had only honoured an EFCC invitation voluntarily. The EFCC issued no official statement, and no charges have been publicly filed.

The probe followed a December 2025 petition by the Network Against Corruption and Trafficking (NACAT) over alleged irregularities in solar streetlight contracts. All five companies named in that petition are confirmed present in the commission’s payment records.