The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, has issued a powerful call to the National Assembly to enact legislation that would criminalize unexplained wealth, warning that Nigeria’s battle against corruption is being hamstrung by legal loopholes and entrenched impunity.
Speaking Wednesday at the National Conference on Public Accounts and Fiscal Governance in Abuja, Olukoyede painted a grim picture of corruption in Nigeria’s public sector, particularly in the oil and gas industry, and stressed that existing laws are insufficient to hold corrupt officials accountable.
“Help me pass the Unexplained Wealth Bill. I’ve been begging for the past year,” Olukoyede appealed to lawmakers. “If we don’t make individuals accountable for what they have, we’ll never get it right.”
Citing a staggering example, the EFCC boss described a scenario in which a civil servant with 20 years of service was found to own multiple properties in Abuja’s most expensive neighborhoods, yet legal hurdles prevented the EFCC from acting due to the absence of a “predicate offence.”
Olukoyede disclosed that a commission-wide investigation into the extractive sector had only just begun, and already, the findings were “mind-boggling.”
“What we’ve uncovered so far is just the surface. If this is what we’re seeing now, imagine what lies underneath,” he said.
He emphasized the direct link between corruption and insecurity, stating that funds siphoned through mismanagement often fuel banditry, terrorism, and poverty.
“When you trace the roots of our security challenges, you often find a pattern of financial crimes and diverted public funds,” he added.
The EFCC chair also lamented the global entrenchment of Nigeria’s looted wealth, revealing that the Commission is tracking assets across jurisdictions from Turkey and the U.S. to unlikely places like Iceland, where an entire estate was discovered in the name of a Nigerian.
“Last month alone, I visited four or five countries chasing Nigeria’s stolen wealth. An ambassador told me they found an estate in Iceland belonging to a Nigerian. Iceland!”
He admitted that no anti-corruption agency can recover more than a fraction of stolen funds due to international reluctance to release ill-gotten assets.
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“No matter how much capacity I build, I won’t be able to recover even half of what’s been stolen,” he acknowledged.
Olukoyede did not hold back in criticizing the culture of impunity in Nigeria, where individuals under corruption investigations are often celebrated rather than sanctioned.
“We present evidence in court. We trace the funds. Yet the same people are being honored in public. What message are we sending?”
He insisted that Nigeria’s developmental challenges were not due to a lack of resources, but a lack of political will and fiscal discipline.
“We have no business borrowing to survive. If we spend even 60% of our capital budget wisely, we’ll build infrastructure, empower SMEs, and move the economy forward.”
Calling for a united national front against corruption, Olukoyede urged leaders to look beyond politics and ethnicity to save the country’s future.
“If we miss it under this administration, I pity Nigeria. Let’s put politics aside. Let’s put ethnicity aside. This is about rescuing the soul of Nigeria,” he concluded.