By Ihechi Enyinnaya
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has secured 10,872 convictions and recovered more than ₦1.23 trillion, $684.48 million and other foreign currencies in the 34 months since its current Executive Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, assumed office.
Olukoyede disclosed this on Sunday in Abuja during a media briefing on his three-year stewardship as chairman of the Commission.
According to him, the EFCC received 49,673 petitions, investigated 39,615 cases and filed 14,476 cases in court between October 2023 and July 2026.
He said the Commission recorded a conviction-to-filing ratio of 75.1 per cent, adding that 1,370 convictions were secured from 1,889 cases filed in the first half of 2026 alone.
Olukoyede said the figures reflected sustained enforcement, institutional reforms and a prosecutorial approach focused on evidence and courtroom outcomes.
“The past 34 months have been a period of sustained enforcement, institutional reform, prosecution, asset recovery, restitution and stronger collaboration at home and abroad,” he said.
The EFCC chairman said data from the Commission showed that advance fee fraud and cybercrime accounted for nearly two-thirds of the 46,288 offences recorded across nine major crime typologies between 2024 and 2026.
He added that total recorded offences rose by 24.1 per cent between 2024 and 2025, with significant increases in procurement fraud, bank fraud, cybercrime and economic governance offences.
Olukoyede said the trend showed that the anti-corruption war was not limited to cases involving high-profile public officials.
“Every day, we are protecting citizens, businesses and institutions from fraud, cyber-enabled crime and other forms of economic exploitation,” he said.
He also said the Commission had continued to investigate and prosecute high-profile suspects without regard to their social or political status.
According to him, the EFCC recently secured convictions involving former public office holders and other prominent Nigerians, including Saleh Mamman, Robert Orya and Chukwunyere Nwabuoku.
“The principle is simple: no office or title places anyone beyond the reach of the law,” Olukoyede said, adding that the Commission would continue to prosecute cases based on available evidence and allow the courts to determine guilt or innocence.
On specialised enforcement, Olukoyede said the Commission handled 920 cases involving money laundering, unlicensed bureaux de change, illegal mining, virtual assets and terrorist financing, securing 212 convictions.
He said money laundering and illegal BDC operations constituted the largest share of the specialised cases, while the Commission was also responding to emerging threats associated with virtual assets and illicit financial flows in the extractive sector.
On asset recovery, Olukoyede said the EFCC recovered ₦1,233,612,040,411.11 between October 1, 2023 and June 30, 2026.
He said the Commission also recovered $684.48 million, £373,905.78 and €9.34 million, in addition to assets and funds recovered in other currencies.
Of the total naira recovery, he said approximately ₦397.26 billion, representing 33 per cent, was recovered directly for the Federal Government, while ₦836.34 billion, representing 67 per cent, was recovered on behalf of ministries, departments and agencies, state revenue services, companies, individuals and foreign victims.
Olukoyede further disclosed that ₦661.32 billion and $492.37 million had been released to beneficiaries during the period.
He said about ₦325.35 billion was paid directly to individuals and corporate bodies, while ₦335.97 billion was released to MDAs, revenue authorities, public institutions, companies and other beneficiaries.
The EFCC chairman said the Commission remained committed to making restitution faster, more transparent and efficient.
He also disclosed that federal and state tax recoveries amounted to about ₦288.1 billion during the period, comprising approximately ₦173.2 billion in federal tax recoveries and ₦114.9 billion recovered for state internal revenue services.
Olukoyede said the recoveries demonstrated how anti-corruption enforcement could strengthen government revenue without imposing new taxes on Nigerians.
He added that about ₦257.2 billion in naira recoveries were also made for federal ministries, departments and agencies.
According to him, proceeds of crime recovered by the EFCC had also been deployed to fund social and economic initiatives.
He said the Federal Government in August 2024 directed that ₦50 billion each from recovered proceeds of crime be allocated to the Nigerian Education Loan Fund and the Nigerian Consumer Credit Corporation.
Olukoyede said further allocations of ₦50 billion each to NELFUND and CreditCorp from EFCC recoveries were subsequently approved in 2026.
He also cited the conversion of the forfeited NOK University property into the Federal University of Applied Sciences, Kachia, Kaduna State, noting that 1,909 students matriculated into the institution in December 2025.
According to him, the conversion of recovered assets into productive public infrastructure demonstrated that anti-corruption enforcement could go beyond punishment and contribute directly to national development.
The EFCC chairman said the Commission secured the forfeiture of 10,053 tangible assets under interim and final court orders between October 2023 and July 2026.
The assets included 8,198 electronic items, 1,177 real estate assets, 370 vehicles, 251 plots of land, as well as schools, factories, hotels, shops, oil rigs, barges, machinery and aircraft.
He added that 102 tonnes of solid minerals were also forfeited, while proceeds from the disposal of assets under final forfeiture orders amounted to approximately ₦12.07 billion and were paid to the Federal Government.
Olukoyede said the Commission’s enforcement activities in money laundering, terrorist financing, asset freezing, confiscation and virtual assets contributed to Nigeria’s efforts to strengthen its financial system.
He noted that Nigeria’s removal from the Financial Action Task Force grey list in October 2025 was a national achievement to which the EFCC contributed through its enforcement and casework.
On foreign exchange regulation, the EFCC chairman said the Commission recorded 234 cases involving unlicensed bureaux de change and secured 73 convictions within the period.
He said the enforcement was aimed at supporting regulatory reforms, promoting transparency in the retail foreign exchange market and blocking channels vulnerable to illicit financial flows, speculation and round-tripping.
Olukoyede also highlighted the Commission’s collaboration with domestic and international law enforcement agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and INTERPOL.
He said the Commission’s cross-border cooperation had facilitated asset recovery across several jurisdictions and enabled the return of recovered assets to foreign entities and individuals.
The EFCC chairman also announced that he had been re-elected President of the Network of National Anti-Corruption Institutions in West Africa for another three-year term.
He said the organisation had become an important platform for regional cooperation on asset recovery, financial crime enforcement and institutional strengthening.
Olukoyede further highlighted reforms introduced within the Commission, including new guidelines on arrest and bail, a review of sting operations and the establishment of the Department of Fraud Risk Assessment and Control, the Security Department, Immigration and Visa Section and the Cybercrime Rapid Response Centre.
He said the Commission had also commissioned its Enugu and Ilorin Directorates and established new directorates in Ekiti, Anambra and Katsina states to improve citizens’ access to its services.
Other reforms, he said, included policies on gifts and hospitality, conflict of interest and exhibit-room security, as well as the restructuring of the Internal Affairs Department into the Ethics and Integrity Department.
Olukoyede disclosed that nearly 60 per cent of the Commission’s processes and operations had been digitalised, while investments were being made in innovation, investigative technology, the EFCC Academy and the 24-hour Cybercrime Rapid Response Centre.
He said the Commission’s focus was not merely on making arrests and announcing recoveries but on converting intelligence into prevention, investigations into prosecutions, convictions into deterrence and recovered assets into measurable public value.
Looking ahead, Olukoyede said the EFCC would deepen preventive measures, accelerate restitution, invest in investigative technology and strengthen professionalism and engagement with citizens.
“We will intensify the fight against corruption and economic crime with respect for due process and unrelenting focus on measurable value for the public,” he said.
He thanked President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the National Assembly, the judiciary, civil society organisations, the media and Nigerians for supporting the work of the Commission, pledging that the EFCC would continue its anti-corruption campaign with renewed determination.