A Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Abuja on Thursday sentenced former Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM) Managing Director Robert(s) Orya to a cumulative 490-year prison term after convicting him on 49 counts of fraud involving approximately ₦2.4 billion.
Justice F. E. Messiri delivered the judgment following a prolonged trial that began after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arraigned Orya in November 2021 on charges including obtaining money by false pretences, forgery, criminal breach of trust, misappropriation, impersonation and abuse of office allegedly committed during his tenure as NEXIM boss.
The prosecution, led by EFCC counsel Samuel Ugwuebulam, called seven witnesses whose testimonies and documentary evidence, the court held, established Orya’s guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
In its particulars, the EFCC alleged that while serving as managing director between 2011 and 2016, Orya induced fraudulent disbursements of funds to companies including Treasuremix Construction Limited, under the false claim that the directors of Luxurium Leisure Services Limited had applied for and qualified for the loans — representations the court found untrue.
On one count, the court heard how ₦488 million was released in September 2011, and on another, how ₦630 million was disbursed in February 2013 under similarly false pretences.
Orya pleaded not guilty throughout the trial, but the court ruled that the prosecution had proven its case on all 49 counts. Justice Messiri imposed 10 years’ imprisonment for each count, totaling 490 years, but ordered that the terms run concurrently, legally meaning the former banker will serve a maximum of 10 years behind bars.
The sentence marks one of the most significant convictions of a former banking executive in recent Nigerian financial crime history and underscores the EFCC’s ongoing push to hold senior public figures accountable for abuse of office.
Orya first took the helm of NEXIM in August 2009, appointed by the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and later reappointed in 2014 by former President Goodluck Jonathan. During his leadership, NEXIM aimed to drive non-oil exports, part of broader federal economic diversification goals, but his legacy is now overshadowed by this landmark conviction.
