Ola Olukoyede, chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), says the agency has recovered cash and assets worth more than $500 million for the Nigerian government within the past three years.
Olukoyede disclosed this on Wednesday while delivering a lecture at the Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime in the United Kingdom.
“Within three years of my assumption of office, we’ve been able to forfeit both cash and assets worth over half a billion dollars to the government,” he said.
According to the EFCC chairman, Nigeria’s legal framework allows the commission to seek non-conviction-based forfeiture of assets suspected to be proceeds of crime, similar to provisions in countries such as Australia and Canada.
He explained that the process begins with an ex parte application to the high court based on reasonable suspicion that the assets are linked to criminal proceeds.
Olukoyede cited the recent forfeiture of an aircraft allegedly linked to a member of a monitoring committee for a power project in Nigeria. He said the individual was accused of receiving a $30 million bribe, after which the aircraft was forfeited to the government.
“This aircraft was forfeited by someone who was supposed to be a member of monitoring committee of a power project in Nigeria. We discovered he collected a bribe of about $30 million in Nigeria,” he said.
He added that the aircraft was forfeited about three months ago and has since been incorporated into the presidential air fleet. According to Olukoyede, the forfeiture was secured within two months of the EFCC’s application to the court.
The EFCC chairman also disclosed that the commission had forfeited a property containing about 753 housing units from a former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
“That property contains about 753 housing units we forfeited from an erstwhile governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria. We have criminal charges against him in about three courts,” he said.
Olukoyede further cited an investigation involving Abubakar Malami, Nigeria’s immediate past attorney-general. He said the investigation began last year following what he described as reasonable suspicion of criminal abuse of office.
According to him, the EFCC traced about 57 properties allegedly linked to Malami during his eight years in office and has so far secured the forfeiture of 48 of them.
The EFCC chairman also disclosed that the commission had secured the forfeiture of a private university allegedly linked to a director in the Federal Ministry of Health. He said the official voluntarily surrendered the property following the commission’s investigation.
Olukoyede attributed the EFCC’s success in obtaining non-conviction-based forfeiture orders to three key factors: the ability of its investigators to trace assets, cooperation from the judiciary and access to credible intelligence.
He said EFCC operatives had received training at leading institutions around the world, adding that the commission has some of the best investigators in the field.
Olukoyede also stressed the importance of a proactive judiciary in making non-conviction-based forfeiture effective, while identifying credible intelligence as another critical component of successful asset recovery.
He called for stronger protection and incentives for whistleblowers, particularly those who provide information that helps the government recover stolen Nigerian assets held abroad.
“If any of you is privy to where Nigerian asset is stolen or taken to anywhere in the world, we have an incentive for you. Between 2.5 and 5 percent is going to go back to you upon recovery,” he said.
Olukoyede said whistleblowers whose information leads to successful asset recovery could therefore receive substantial financial rewards.
