The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has uncovered what its chairman calls an illegal industrial zone in Ogere, Ogun State. The site allegedly housed an oil refinery run by Chinese nationals, lithium processing plants and a wood factory. EFCC Chairman Ola Olukoyede described the facilities to journalists at the scene and announced the operation’s code name: Operation Sovereign Wealth.
“We are not just talking about one plant, two plants, three plants,” Olukoyede said. According to him, the operators refined petroleum products illegally and processed high-value solid minerals without oversight. “They are not being regulated. They are not being monitored,” he said. He pointed to lithium stacked behind him and noted that the operators ran heavy equipment and generated their own electricity around the clock.
The latest discovery follows a string of raids in the area. On October 23, EFCC operatives arrested 15 people, including 14 Chinese nationals and one Nigerian, at four alleged lithium processing plants in Ogere. They recovered bags of lithium rocks, 18 mobile phones, four laptops and a trailer truck. Then, on October 31, operatives from the Lagos Zonal Directorate 2 stormed a suspected sludge oil refinery nearby.
However, the refinery stood deserted when the team arrived. Operatives found underground tanks that investigators believe the operators used to heat and process the oil, along with refined products. Workers at the site told the EFCC that the Chinese operators never revealed their identities or the name of their company. Consequently, the commission has taken over the premises while it works to establish who owns the facility.
Olukoyede also described a warehouse stocked with lithium batteries, telephone batteries and chargers. His team has destroyed them, although investigators have not yet established what the operators planned to do with them. In addition, officers found dozens of motorbikes parked in the warehouse. “What we reasonably suspect,” he said, is that the operators gave the bikes to people who guarded their mining sites in the bush.
That suspicion raises security concerns. Olukoyede said the operation could point to a possible breach of national security. Moreover, he questioned where the minerals came from, since the site sits in the southwest. He suggested the operators hauled them from the north-central and northwest regions, and possibly from other parts of the country. “You can imagine where they brought all these minerals from,” he said.
The EFCC says the case falls squarely within its mandate. Investigators are examining suspected money laundering, economic sabotage and illegal mining. “We are trying to retrieve our wealth from the hands of those who have come to exploit us,” Olukoyede said, in remarks that were partly unclear in the recording. He promised that the investigation would not stop at the site.
Meanwhile, the commission has a plan for the facilities. The EFCC will complete its inquiry and then ask a court for the necessary orders. After that, it will bring in the relevant regulatory agencies and licensed professionals to run the plants legally. Therefore, workers at the site should keep their jobs, Olukoyede said. “All this will not be destroyed,” he said, adding that the EFCC wants to use recovered assets to stimulate the economy.
The chairman also appealed to the public for help. “When you see this kind of illegal activities going on, please speak out,” he said. He warned that Nigerians would become the ultimate victims if foreign operators exploit the country’s resources and then leave. He added that some of those operators may even hold legal documents.
This is not the first such case in Ogere. In May 2025, the EFCC arrested two Chinese nationals and six Nigerians in the area over alleged illegal mining. No one has been charged in connection with the new refinery. The EFCC has not named the suspected operators, and investigations continue. Soj World News will update this report as new details emerge.
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