EFCC Recovers N1.23tn, $684m as Convictions Hit 10,872 in Three Years — Olukoyede

EFCC Recovers N1.23tn, $684m as Convictions Hit 10,872 in Three Years — Olukoyede

EFCC Chairman presents stewardship report, reveals 75.1% conviction rate, N836bn recovered for MDAs, and N50bn allocations to NELFUND

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) recovered N1.23 trillion, $684.48 million, £373,905.78 and €9.34 million between October 1, 2023, and June 30, 2026, while securing 10,872 convictions from 14,476 cases filed in court, the agency’s Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, has disclosed. Olukoyede made the announcement on Monday during a media briefing at the Commission’s headquarters in Abuja to mark his three-year stewardship of the anti-graft agency. He described asset recovery as one of the major pillars of the commission’s efforts to combat economic and financial crimes and safeguard public resources, emphasizing that the figures reflected the commission’s strengthened investigations, prosecutions and asset recovery operations under his leadership.

Of the N1.23 trillion recovered in naira, approximately N397.26 billion (33 per cent) constituted direct recoveries for the Federal Government, while N836.34 billion (67 per cent) represented indirect recoveries made on behalf of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), state revenue services, companies, individuals and foreign victims. Olukoyede clarified that “two out of every three naira recovered were on behalf of beneficiaries other than the Federal Government.” The EFCC chairman also disclosed that the commission had released N661.32 billion and $492.37 million to beneficiaries during the period, stressing that recovery was meaningful only when recovered assets were returned to the public interest and rightful beneficiaries. The naira releases included N325.35 billion paid directly to individuals and corporate bodies, while N335.97 billion was released to various MDAs, the Nigerian Revenue Service, state internal revenue services, and other public institutions, companies, and individuals.

Olukoyede said the commission received 49,673 petitions, investigated 39,615 cases, filed 14,476 cases in court and secured 10,872 convictions between October 2023 and July 2026, representing a conviction-to-filing ratio of 75.1 per cent. In the first half of 2026 alone, the agency recorded 1,370 convictions from 1,889 filings. According to the EFCC chairman, data from 2024 to 2026 showed 46,288 offences across nine major financial crime typologies, with advance fee fraud and cybercrime accounting for nearly two-thirds of recorded offences. Recorded offences increased by 24.1 per cent between 2024 and 2025, with notable rises in procurement fraud, bank fraud, cybercrime, and economic governance offences.

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Olukoyede said the commission had continued to prosecute high-profile cases without regard to the status of suspects, noting that its portfolio covered former governors, ministers, public office holders, heads of agencies, financial-sector operators, and corporate officials. He listed recent convictions involving former Minister of Power, Saleh Mamman, former NEXIM Bank managing director, Robert Orya, and Chukwunyere Nwabuoku. The EFCC’s specialised enforcement portfolio covering money laundering, unlicensed bureaux de change, illegal mining, virtual assets, and terrorist financing recorded 920 cases, with 212 convictions. Regarding Bureau de Change operators, 2,374 cases had been filed, resulting in 71 convictions, with 234 cases still under investigation.

On asset forfeiture, the EFCC chairman said 10,053 tangible assets were forfeited under interim and final court orders between October 2023 and July 2026, while 102 tonnes of solid minerals were recovered. The commission also secured the forfeiture of an aircraft allegedly linked to a $30 million bribe case, which has since been added to the presidential air fleet. Additionally, a property containing about 753 housing units was forfeited from a former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria. Olukoyede said the anti-graft war had also produced social and economic benefits, citing the allocation of N50 billion each from recovered proceeds to the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) and Nigerian Consumer Credit Corporation in 2024, with further N50 billion allocations to each institution approved in 2026. He also noted that a recovered property, NOK University, had been converted into the Federal University of Applied Sciences, Kachia, Kaduna State, where 1,909 students matriculated in December 2025.

Olukoyede further disclosed that more than 40 EFCC personnel had been dismissed for misconduct in the past three years, while the commission was ensuring that its arrest operations complied with the law. He warned that officers found violating the provisions of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act would face appropriate disciplinary action. The latest figures represent a significant increase from the recoveries reported by the commission during the first two years of Olukoyede’s tenure. In October 2025, the EFCC said it had recovered N566.3bn and $411m within Olukoyede’s first two years in office, with the commission also reporting the recovery of 1,502 properties during the period.

Olukoyede has consistently maintained that the EFCC’s mandate extends beyond recovering cash, with the agency pursuing properties, vehicles and other assets suspected to have been acquired with proceeds of crime. The commission has used both criminal prosecutions and forfeiture proceedings to recover assets linked to alleged corruption, fraud, money laundering and other financial offences. In some cases, the EFCC has pursued non-conviction-based forfeiture proceedings where it alleges that assets were acquired with proceeds of unlawful activities. Olukoyede has also stressed the importance of international cooperation in tracing funds and assets allegedly moved outside Nigeria as part of efforts to prevent suspects from concealing proceeds of crime abroad.

EFCC Recovers N1.23tn, $684m as Convictions Hit 10,872 in Three Years — Olukoyede