499
By Lizzy Chirkpi
A Federal High Court in Abuja has sentenced the former Managing Director of the Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM), Roberts Orya, to a cumulative 490 years in prison for his role in a multi-billion-naira bank fraud scheme.
Justice F.E. Messiri delivered the judgment on Thursday, February 5, 2026, after finding Orya guilty on all 49 counts filed against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)
According to the EFCC spokesperson, Dele Oyewale in a statement on February 5, 2026, he said “the charges, instituted in 2021, bordered on obtaining money by false pretence, forgery and advance fee fraud involving a total sum of N2.4 billion.”
One of the counts stated that Orya, while serving as NEXIM’s managing director, fraudulently induced the bank on September 21, 2011, to release N488 million as a loan to Treasuremix Construction Limited under the false claim that Luxurium Leisure Services Limited was the beneficiary.
Another count revealed that on February 19, 2013, he similarly caused the bank to disburse N630 million to the same company, again on the pretence that Luxurium Leisure Services Limited had applied for the loan a claim the court held to be untrue.
Orya pleaded not guilty, prompting a full trial in which the prosecution, led by EFCC counsel Samuel Ugwuebulam, called seven witnesses whose evidence convinced the court of his culpability.
In her ruling, Justice Messiri held that the EFCC proved its case beyond reasonable doubt and sentenced the former bank chief to 10 years’ imprisonment on each of the 49 counts, amounting to 490 years. The court, however, ordered that the jail terms run concurrently.
Orya headed NEXIM Bank between 2009 and 2016, having been appointed by late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua in August 2009 and reappointed by former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2014.