The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission recovered N1.23tn, $684.47m and other foreign currencies in proceeds of crime and secured 10,872 convictions in the first 34 months of Ola Olukoyede’s tenure as chairman.
Olukoyede disclosed this on Monday while presenting his three-year stewardship report at the EFCC headquarters in Abuja.
He said the commission received 49,673 petitions between October 2023 and July 2026, investigated 39,615 cases and filed 14,476 cases in court, resulting in 10,872 convictions.
According to him, the figures represented a 75.1 per cent conviction-to-filing ratio.
The EFCC chairman added that the commission secured 1,370 convictions from 1,889 filings in the first half of 2026 alone.
He said the results reflected a prosecutorial strategy focused on investigation, evidence gathering and courtroom outcomes.
Olukoyede said the commission had remained focused on ensuring that its anti-corruption mandate translated into tangible economic value for Nigerians.
“Our approach has been anchored on properly focusing our mandate in the overall interest of Nigerians, using the anti-graft war to stimulate economic growth, strengthen the rule of law, improve transactional credibility, enhance Nigeria’s image and attract foreign direct investment,” he said.
Giving a breakdown of the recoveries, Olukoyede said the commission recovered N1,233,612,040,411.11, $684,478,457.32, £373,905.78 and €9,343,803.66 between October 1, 2023 and June 30, 2026.
He said about N397.26bn, representing 33 per cent of the naira recovery, constituted direct recoveries for the Federal Government, while N836.34bn, representing 67 per cent, comprised indirect recoveries made on behalf of ministries, departments and agencies, state revenue services, companies, individuals and foreign victims.
He said the figures showed that two out of every three naira recovered by the commission were recovered for beneficiaries other than the Federal Government.
“Recovery is only meaningful when the value is ultimately returned to the public interest or rightful beneficiaries,” Olukoyede said.
He disclosed that N661.32bn and $492.37m had been released to beneficiaries during the period under review.
The naira releases included N325.35bn paid directly to individuals and corporate bodies, while N335.97bn was released to ministries, departments and agencies, the Nigerian Revenue Service, state internal revenue services and other public institutions, companies and individuals.
Olukoyede said the commission was working towards making restitution faster, more transparent and more efficient.
The EFCC chairman also disclosed that more than 40 personnel of the commission had been dismissed over corruption and financial malpractice during his tenure.
He said more than five of the affected officers were currently being prosecuted.
Olukoyede said the commission could not effectively fight corruption while tolerating corrupt practices within its own ranks.
“You can’t be fighting corruption when your hands are soiled with corrupt practices,” he said.
He disclosed that the commission had renamed its former Internal Affairs Department as the Department of Ethics and Integrity as part of measures to strengthen internal accountability.
Olukoyede also said the EFCC had introduced policies on gifts and hospitality, conflict of interest and exhibit-room security.
On the changing nature of financial crimes, the EFCC chairman said the commission recorded 46,288 offences across nine major crime typologies between 2024 and 2026 year-to-date.
He said advance fee fraud and cybercrime accounted for nearly two-thirds of the recorded offences.
Olukoyede added that recorded offences increased by 24.1 per cent between 2024 and 2025, with significant increases in procurement fraud, bank fraud, cybercrime and economic-governance offences.
“The trend demonstrates that the EFCC’s responsibility extends beyond the prosecution of high-profile corruption cases,” he said.
According to him, the commission was increasingly focused on protecting ordinary citizens, businesses and institutions from fraud, cyber-enabled crimes and other forms of economic exploitation.
Olukoyede said the commission had intensified enforcement against money laundering, unlicensed bureaux de change, illegal mining, virtual assets and terrorist financing.
He said 920 specialised cases resulted in 212 convictions, while several other investigations and prosecutions remained active.
The commission also recorded 234 cases involving bureaux de change and secured 73 convictions during the period.
Olukoyede said enforcement against unlicensed BDC operations complemented regulatory reforms by the Central Bank of Nigeria and was aimed at promoting a more formal and transparent retail foreign-exchange market.
He said the objective was also to close channels vulnerable to illicit finance, speculation and round-tripping.
The EFCC chairman reaffirmed the commission’s commitment to investigating and prosecuting high-profile Nigerians regardless of their political positions, public status or influence.
He cited the recent convictions of former Minister of Power, Saleh Mamman, Robert Orya and Chukwunyere Nwabuoku as examples of the commission’s determination to pursue cases without discrimination.
“No office, title or social status should place anyone beyond the reach of the law,” Olukoyede said.
He maintained that the EFCC would investigate cases professionally, prosecute them based on evidence and allow the courts to determine the guilt or innocence of accused persons.
Olukoyede said the EFCC’s enforcement activities also generated approximately N288.1bn in federal and state tax recoveries during the period.
Of the amount, N173.2bn represented federal tax recoveries, while N114.9bn was attributed to state internal revenue services.
He stressed that the recoveries represented enforcement of existing tax obligations rather than the introduction of new taxes.
According to him, about N257.2bn in naira recoveries were also recorded for federal ministries, departments and agencies.
Olukoyede said the figures demonstrated how anti-corruption enforcement could strengthen government revenue without necessarily imposing additional burdens on taxpayers.
The EFCC chairman highlighted the social and economic impact of recovered proceeds of crime, citing the conversion of NOK University in Kachia, Kaduna State, into the Federal University of Applied Sciences, Kachia.
He said the institution, recovered through the commission’s asset-forfeiture process, had 1,909 students matriculating in December 2025.
Olukoyede said the Federal Government also allocated N50bn each from EFCC recoveries to the Nigerian Education Loan Fund and the Nigerian Consumer Credit Corporation in 2024, with additional N50bn allocations to each institution approved in 2026.
He said the use of recovered criminal proceeds for education and household credit represented a shift from viewing anti-corruption merely as punishment to seeing it as a mechanism for restoring stolen value and supporting national development.
Beyond cash recoveries, Olukoyede said the EFCC secured forfeiture orders covering 10,053 tangible assets between October 2023 and July 2026.
The assets included 8,198 electronic items, 1,177 real estate properties, 370 automobiles and 251 plots of land.
Other forfeited assets included schools, factories, hotels, shops, oil rigs, barges, machinery and aircraft, while 102 tonnes of solid minerals were also forfeited.
He said proceeds from the disposal of assets under final forfeiture orders amounted to about N12.07bn and were paid into the Federal Government’s coffers.
Olukoyede linked the commission’s sustained enforcement activities to Nigeria’s broader efforts to strengthen its anti-money laundering and counter-financing of terrorism framework.
He described Nigeria’s removal from the Financial Action Task Force Grey List in October 2025 as a national achievement.
The EFCC chairman said the commission’s casework and enforcement activities contributed to the collective national effort that strengthened Nigeria’s compliance framework.
He also attributed many of the commission’s achievements to increased collaboration with domestic and international law-enforcement agencies, regulators and other institutions.
He listed the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, United Kingdom National Crime Agency, Royal Canadian Mounted Police and INTERPOL among the international partners working with the EFCC.
Olukoyede said about 60 per cent of the commission’s processes and operations had been digitalised as part of its reform programme.
He said the EFCC had introduced new guidelines on arrest and bail, reviewed its sting operations and established specialised units, including the Department of Fraud Risk Assessment and Control and Cybercrime Rapid Response Centre.
The commission, he added, had inaugurated its Enugu and Ilorin directorates and established new directorates in Ekiti, Anambra and Katsina states.
Olukoyede said the EFCC’s success should not be measured merely by the number of arrests made or funds recovered.
He said the commission’s responsibility was to transform intelligence into prevention, petitions into investigations, investigations into prosecutions, prosecutions into convictions and recoveries into restitution.
“The ultimate objective is to turn enforcement into measurable national value,” he said.
The EFCC chairman pledged that the commission would continue to intensify its fight against corruption and economic crimes while maintaining respect for due process and focusing on outcomes that deliver measurable value to Nigerians.
Source: punchng.com
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