Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Chairman Ola Olukoyede has expressed concern over the scale of alleged corruption in Nigeria’s public sector, saying the commission receives thousands of petitions against public officials every year.
Olukoyede spoke on Thursday, September 24, in Abuja at an event held to celebrate the 80th birthday of Kanu Agabi, a former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice.
According to the EFCC chairman, more than 20,000 petitions concerning alleged corruption involving public officials reach the commission annually. He described the nature of some of the cases as deeply troubling.
“I receive over 20,000 petitions in a year in respect to public corruption, all terrible. What is going on? Like every minute, public officers take money, and if you go through some of our case files you will weep,” Olukoyede said.
He said corruption involving public resources ultimately affects ordinary Nigerians, arguing that citizens should collectively reject practices that undermine public institutions and national development.
“The way people take national resources, as Nigerians we’re victims of these fraudulent activities. And we must come together for once in our lifetime and say no to the activities of some of our leaders.”
Olukoyede also pointed to cases where the financial circumstances of public officials allegedly changed substantially during their time in office.
He said some officials assumed public positions with relatively modest balances in their bank accounts but were later linked to substantial sums of money after serving for several years.
“Somebody will spend three to four years as a public servant, but before he got to office he had less than N100 thousand in his account. By the time he’s leaving, we were able to trace several millions of dollars and naira to him,” he said.
The EFCC chairman further cited instances in which public officials allegedly acquired numerous properties while serving in government.
“Some build 50 something houses, sometimes 200 houses. There’s no way a nation will develop with those kind of people in power, no way.”
He said public office holders should be subject to greater scrutiny and must be able to account for their stewardship, stressing that transparency and accountability should remain central to public service.
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Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Musa Adamu Aliyu, also identified institutional weaknesses and societal attitudes as contributing factors to the persistence of corruption.
“The major challenge of corruption in this country is that we tolerate the culture of corruption, that is why it is thriving. Secondly, we have systemic errors, our systems are weak,” Aliyu said
Aliyu called for greater emphasis on integrity education, particularly among children and young people, saying the values they acquire early could influence their attitudes towards public responsibility.
He specifically urged Nigerians to engage Generation Z and Generation Alpha on the importance of integrity.
“We need to tell them that we want them to imbibe the culture of integrity,” he said.
The birthday event brought together members of the legal profession, serving and former public officials, civil society representatives, academics and other stakeholders.