EFCC Recovers Over $500m Assets, Woos Whistleblowers With 5% Reward For Information On Stolen Nigerian Wealth

• The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) says it has secured the forfeiture of cash and assets worth more than $500 million to the Federal Government within three years of Ola Olukoyede’s tenure as chairman.

• The anti-graft agency is offering whistleblowers between 2.5 per cent and five per cent of recovered assets for credible information leading to the recovery of Nigerian wealth allegedly stolen and moved abroad.

• Olukoyede says Nigeria’s non-conviction-based asset forfeiture regime has enabled the EFCC to recover high-value assets without waiting for criminal trials to be concluded.

• The EFCC chairman cites the forfeiture of about 753 housing units linked to former CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele, 48 of 57 properties allegedly traced to former Attorney-General Abubakar Malami, and an aircraft allegedly acquired with proceeds of a $30 million bribe.

August 27, () — The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has secured the forfeiture of cash and assets worth more than $500 million to the Federal Government within three years of Ola Olukoyede’s tenure as chairman.

Olukoyede disclosed this on Wednesday while delivering a lecture at the 43rd International Symposium on Economic Crime in Cambridge, United Kingdom, where he also announced an incentive of up to five per cent for whistleblowers whose information leads to the recovery of stolen Nigerian assets.

The EFCC chairman urged individuals with credible information about funds, properties or other assets allegedly stolen from Nigeria and concealed or transferred abroad to approach the commission, promising financial rewards where the information results in successful recovery.

“I welcome all of you to the world of whistleblowing. If any one of you is privy to where Nigerian assets are stolen or taken to anywhere in the world, we have an incentive for you; between 2.5 percent and 5 percent, it’s going to go back to you upon recovery”, Olukoyede said.

He explained that the incentive was introduced to encourage members of the public to provide actionable intelligence capable of helping investigators trace and recover proceeds of crime.

“That is an incentive we have put in place to encourage people to come forward to give information about stolen assets”, he added.

Olukoyede added that the value of the reward could make a successful whistleblower a millionaire, depending on the value of assets recovered from the information supplied.

“You never know if you give any information here, some of you may leave this place a multi-millionaire in your lifetime”, he stated, drawing applause from participants.

Over $500m Forfeited To Government

Speaking on the commission’s performance under his leadership, Olukoyede said the EFCC had recovered and secured forfeiture of cash and assets worth more than half a billion dollars to the government.

“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.

He attributed the recoveries to the professionalism and resourcefulness of EFCC investigators, access to credible intelligence and cooperation from the judiciary.

According to him, the commission’s investigators have undergone specialised training at leading institutions internationally, equipping them to handle increasingly sophisticated economic and financial crime cases.

Olukoyede also explained Nigeria’s non-conviction-based asset forfeiture framework, which allows the EFCC to pursue the forfeiture of assets suspected to be proceeds of crime without necessarily waiting for a criminal conviction.

He said the system was comparable to frameworks operating in countries such as Australia and Canada.

“We have something similar to what is obtainable in Australia and Canada that empowers us to apply the forfeiture to proceeds of what is suspected to be proceeds of crime”, he said.

The EFCC chairman explained that the civil forfeiture process could begin with an ex parte application to the High Court based on probable suspicion that an asset represents proceeds of crime.

He said the mechanism had enabled the commission to move against assets, including houses, estates, an aircraft and a private university allegedly acquired through illicit means.

Olukoyede, however, stressed that effective asset recovery depended on three critical factors: competent investigations, a responsive judiciary and credible intelligence.

Among the major recoveries cited by the EFCC chairman was a property comprising about 753 housing units allegedly linked to former Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Godwin Emefiele.

“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”, Olukoyede said.

Olukoyede also disclosed that the commission had secured the forfeiture of 48 properties out of 57 allegedly traced to former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN).

He said the investigation was opened last year following what he described as reasonable suspicion of criminal abuse of office.

“Sometimes last year, I opened investigations upon reasonable suspicion of criminal abuse of office by the immediate past Attorney-General of Nigeria. We discovered that within eight years of his being in office, we were able to trace about 57 such properties to him. We’ve been able to forfeit about 48”, he said.

The EFCC chairman further cited the forfeiture of an aircraft allegedly linked to an individual who served on a monitoring committee for a power project. According to Olukoyede, the individual was allegedly found to have received about $30 million in bribes.

“This aircraft was forfeited by someone who was supposed to be a member of the monitoring committee of a power project in Nigeria. We discovered he collected a bribe of about $30 million in Nigeria”, he said, adding that the commission secured the forfeiture order within two months of approaching the court, and that the aircraft had subsequently been added to the Presidential Air Fleet.

Olukoyede said the commission had also 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 an EFCC investigation.

EFCC Seeks Public Support

The EFCC chairman said public cooperation was crucial to the commission’s efforts, particularly in tracing assets transferred to foreign jurisdictions.

He called for stronger protection and incentives for whistleblowers, saying citizens with information about stolen Nigerian assets should be encouraged to come forward.

“The citizens must be encouraged with your whistleblower protection”, he said.

Olukoyede said the new reward structure could strengthen the flow of intelligence to the commission and help the government recover assets that might otherwise remain concealed.

The incentive, he explained, would range from 2.5 per cent to five per cent of assets successfully recovered based on credible information supplied by whistleblowers.

The EFCC was established to investigate and prosecute economic and financial crimes and recover proceeds of illicit activities. Over the years, asset recovery has become a major component of the commission’s anti-corruption strategy, particularly in cases involving alleged diversion of public funds, fraud, money laundering and abuse of office.

Since assuming office in October 2023, Olukoyede has repeatedly emphasised the need for faster investigations, improved asset recovery, and greater use of technology and intelligence to tackle financial crimes.