· Report indicts him in $5.5m children’s tuition fraud
· Recommends prosecution, urges President to suspend him like Beta Edu
· Calls on CCB, EFCC, ICPC to commence immediate investigation
While many Nigerians earning honest living including many civil servants are weighed down by the burden of the harsh economy, the CEO of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA has been indicted for spending upwards of a whopping ₦8 billion for his four children over a six-year period, DAUDA ISMAIL writes.
The Oduduwa Solidarity Network has called upon the Federal Government to suspend the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA, Engr. Farouk Ahmed, in light of allegations concerning a $5 million fraud.
Addressing journalists during a press conference held in Lagos on Wednesday, the group’s Convener, Comrade Tunde Osinowo, stated that an independent report into allegations of abuse of office has implicated Mr Ahmed in the expenditure of approximately $5.5 million—equivalent to ₦8 billion at prevailing exchange rates—on the elite foreign education of his children.
According to Osinowo, such an unaccounted expenditure undermines Nigeria’s fight against corruption and makes a mockery of the rule of law and the hardships endured by ordinary citizens. He said: “This report arises from a growing crisis of confidence in the leadership of NMDPRA and by extension, the integrity of public finance management in Nigeria. At the centre of this storm are credible allegations that Engr. Farouk Ahmed funded the overseas secondary and tertiary education of his four children at some of the most expensive institutions in the world.”
He listed the secondary and tertiary institutions to include Institut Le Rosey, widely regarded as the most elite boarding school globally; Aiglon College and La Garenne International School in Switzerland; Montreux Secondary School; and, most recently, Harvard University.
“Our concern is not with private ambition or parental pride, but with the disconnect between this extravagant expenditure and Engr. Ahmed’s known income.
“Nigeria’s civil service, for all its responsibilities, does not pay salaries that can sustain a $5.5 million outlay on education. And to our knowledge, there has been no public disclosure of business earnings, family inheritance, or blind trust that might explain this wealth,” the report then continued.
According to Osinowo, as an independent network committed to public accountability, the Oduduwa Solidarity Network subjected these claims to due diligence and found that Faisal Farouk, Ashraf Farouk, Farouk Jr., and Farhana Farouk have attended institutions where annual tuition, boarding, travel, and upkeep amount to over $200,000 per child.
“Over a six-year period per child, this easily totals $1.2 million. With four children, the bill escalates to $4.8 million—and rising. One of the children recently graduated from Harvard University, where tuition and associated costs reached $152,000 for a single year.
“Ahmed has spent his entire adult life in government employment, beginning his career with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, and rising through the ranks to his current position at NMDPRA.
“There is no record of declared external income, shareholding in profit-generating entities, or high-value asset sales that would justify this lifestyle,” the report stated, stressing that “the failure of the NMDPRA to sign its public response, the lack of itemised defence, and the absence of a personal affidavit from Ahmed himself, indicate not a willingness to engage, but a strategy of obfuscation.
“This pattern is deeply concerning for an office entrusted with oversight of trillions in petroleum revenue.”
According to the group, Ahmed has breached the sacred trust of his office and he has failed the test of transparency.
“He has treated public office as a gateway to private luxury. And worse still, he has not even bothered to account for the excesses. Remember that in 2017, former President Muhammadu Buhari fired Babachir Lawal, then Secretary to the Government of the Federation, after he was implicated in a contract diversion scandal involving funds meant for internally displaced persons.
“Babachir was later prosecuted. In 2024, President Tinubu suspended Betta Edu, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, over financial transfers lacking due process. Both cases were seen as a defence of public morality—and rightly so. Is Engr. Farouk Ahmed exempt from the same standard? Is the misuse of public funds only criminal when it concerns displaced persons or social intervention budgets—but not when it quietly funds elite education in Switzerland and Montreux?
“What message does this silence send to millions of Nigerian parents struggling to pay WAEC fees or school levies? What does it say to the civil servant earning N150,000 monthly, paying tax, and watching as the top of the system floats above scrutiny?” he queried.
The group then called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to suspend Engr. Farouk Ahmed from office pending the conclusion of a comprehensive investigation by relevant agencies.
“We urge the Code of Conduct Bureau, the EFCC, and the ICPC to open an immediate investigation into the source of funds used by Engr. Ahmed for his children’s education. His asset declarations should be examined for accuracy and cross-checked against known expenditures.
“Should any infractions be established, we expect swift prosecution in line with Nigeria’s anti-corruption laws. No official, no matter how highly placed, should be above the law. Let it be known that we approach this matter not with malice, but with fidelity to a country in search of rebirth. Our silence in the face of such glaring contradictions would amount to complicity.
“Engr. Ahmed must submit to the same rules he once swore to uphold. This is not persecution—it is the minimum standard of ethical governance,” the report concluded.
All attempts to get his response failed as at the time of filing this report.
Farouk Ahmed is the pioneer & serving Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, an institution which is charged with the responsibility of administering the regulatory oversight of the Midstream & Downstream Petroleum Operations in Nigeria.
