How EFCC recovered N1.23trn, $684.48m in 34 months – Olukoyede

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) recovered N1.23 trillion and $684.48 million in proceeds of crime between October 2023 and July 2026, a period of 34 months.

Of the sum, N397.26 billion was recovered directly for the federal government, while the remaining N836.35 billion went to individuals, companies, government agencies and other beneficiaries.

These figures represent an increase in the October 2025 report where the agency announced the recovery of N566 billion and $411 million in assets.

Executive Chairman of the Commission, Ola Olukoyede, announced this Monday while addressing a top-level media gathering in Abuja on the agency’s activities since his assumption of office.

He said the EFCC received 49,673 petitions during the period and investigated 39,615.

Of those investigated, 14,476 ended up in court where the agency secured 10,872 convictions.

The recovery details indicated that over N1.2 trillion (N1,233,612,040,411.11) and about $684.5 million ($684,478,457.32) were recovered across five continents.

Other recoveries included £373,905.78, €9.34 million, CFA58.73 million and 463,660 Saudi riyals.

Another N71.01 billion and $18.29 million remained in recovery accounts or with exhibit keepers pending verification of their rightful owners.

Among the beneficiaries were the Internal Revenue Services of Edo, Kwara, Oyo and Sokoto states, which received N97.98 billion.

This is as N661.32 billion and $492.37 million of the recovered fund had been released to beneficiaries through restitution and other recovery channels.

The EFCC boss further stated that N114.9 billion in tax recoveries was attributed to state internal revenue services.

In the same vein, federal ministries, departments and agencies received N257.2 billion and $126.4 million, while public corporate bodies received N2.49 billion, private companies received N350.4 million and individuals N1.02 billion.

The EFCC recorded its highest annual naira recovery in 2025, when it recovered N521.3 billion.

According to the Commission, total naira recoveries rose by 43 per cent between 2024 and 2025, while direct recoveries for the federal government increased by 429 per cent.

In the first six months of 2026, the anti-graft body recovered N201.9 billion, although it cautioned that the figure had not been annualised.

The EFCC also recovered $123.7 million in the first half of 2026, compared with $66.7 million between October 2023 and the end of 2025.

Advance-fee fraud and cybercrime accounted for more than 62 per cent of the 46,288 offences recorded by the Commission during the period, Olukoyede said.

“Advance-fee fraud made up the largest share, with 20,726 offences, followed by cybercrime with 8,222. Money laundering ranked third with 5,620 offences.

“Bank fraud accounted for 3,328 offences, while economic governance fraud recorded 3,167 and land and property fraud 2,464.

“Other offences included extractive industrial fraud, procurement fraud and tax fraud,” the agency said.

…The offences

Olukoyede said the EFCC recorded 9,015 offences in 2023, 20,640 in 2024 and 16,633 in 2025, while courts ordered forfeiture of 10,053 assets.

“Between October 2023 and July 2026, the Commission received 49,673 petitions, investigated 39,615 cases, filed 14,476 cases in court and secured 10,872 convictions. This gives a conviction-to-filing ratio of 75.1 per cent. In the first half of 2026 alone, we recorded 1,370 convictions from 1,889 filings. These results reflect diligence, resilience and a prosecutorial approach anchored on evidence and courtroom outcomes.” Olujkoyede added.

According to him, “Data from petitions and case analysis provides an indication of the shifting trends in the financial crime threat landscape. Our 2024 to 2026 year-to-date category data recorded 46,288 offences across nine major typologies. Advance fee fraud and cybercrime together, represented nearly two-thirds of recorded offences. However, between 2024 and 2025, total recorded offences rose by 24.1 per cent, with notable increases in procurement fraud, bank fraud, cybercrime and economic-governance offences.”

He listed the secured interim and final forfeiture orders covering 10,053 assets during the 34-month period to include 8,198 electronics, 1,177 real estate properties, 370 automobiles and 251 plots of land.

The forfeiture orders, the EFCC boss also said, covered 32 schools, factories, hotels and shops, 25 oil rigs, barges and other machinery, as well as 102 tonnes of solid minerals.

The EFCC explained that other assets included a N450 million insurance policy, N250 million in Treasury bills and 40,844,094 shares valued at N1.05 billion and $4.4 million.

Bitcoin, USDT, Ethereum and other digital assets were also forfeited.

Proceeds from the disposal of assets under final forfeiture orders amounted to N12.07 billion, which the Commission said had been paid to the federal government.

Nature of crimes

The EFCC reported 920 specialised cases involving money laundering, bureau de change operations, illegal mining, virtual assets and terrorist financing.

It was also reported that 680 of the cases were still active while 212 had produced convictions.

Money laundering accounted for 612 of the cases, followed by bureau de change operations with 234. Illegal mining accounted for 52, while virtual assets and terrorist financing recorded 11 cases each.

The Commission said 127 money-laundering cases and 73 bureau de change cases resulted in convictions.

There were also nine convictions from illegal-mining cases, two involving virtual assets and one in a terrorist-financing case.

High-profile cases

The EFCC said 36 high-profile cases involving former governors, ministers, senior government officials, banking executives, corporate officials and a National Assembly official remained before the courts.

The list of the defendants included former Kogi Governor Yahaya Bello, former Taraba Governor Darius Ishaku, former Kwara Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed, and former Abia Governor Theodore Orji.

Former Niger Governor Muazu Babangida Aliyu, and former Anambra Governors Chris Ngige and Willie Obiano, as well as former Benue Governor Gabriel Suswam and former Jigawa Governor Sule Lamido were also listed.

Among the former ministers and senior officials named were Olu Agunloye, Abubakar Malami, Hadi Sirika, Bello Mohammed and Sadiya Umar Farouq.

Others included former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele, former Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF) Ahmed Idris, former National Security Adviser (NSA) Sambo Dasuki, and former Chairman Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT), Abdulrasheed Maina.

The Commission also listed former SunTrust Bank managing director Halima Buba, former Skye Bank chairman Tunde Ayeni, former NHIS Chairman Usman Yusuf, former NSITF Board Chairman Ngozi Olejeme and former CCT Chairman Danladi Umar.

Other cases involved Ali Bello whom the EFCC identified as Chief of Staff to Kogi state Governor Usman Ododo, CBEX promoters Awerusuo Otorudo and Chukwuebuka Ehirim, former Port Harcourt Refinery Managing Director Ahmed Dikko, former Warri Refinery Managing Director Jimoh Yisawu Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore leader Bello Bodejo, and lawyer Mike Agbedor Abu Ozekhome (SAN).

The commission also linked its enforcement activities to Nigeria’s removal from the Financial Action Task Force’s list of jurisdictions under increased monitoring in October 2025.

Nigeria had been placed on the FATF grey list in February 2023 over strategic deficiencies in its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing framework.

According to the EFCC, its contribution to the country’s eventual exit included money-laundering and terrorist-financing investigations and prosecutions, asset freezing and seizure, confiscation and disposal, and enforcement in high-risk sectors.

Olukoyede noted that the Commission had also overhauled several aspects of its operations since taking office.

Among the changes were new guidelines on arrest and bail, a review of sting operations, the creation of a security department and an Immigration and Visa Section.

The commission introduced policies covering gifts and hospitality, exhibit-room security and conflicts of interest.

It also created the Department of Fraud, Risk and Assessment Control, the Special Task Force against Naira Abuse and Dollarisation of the Economy, EFCC Radio, a Public Complaints Desk and a Cybercrime Response Centre.

A new EFCC Academy and Cybercrime Research Centre were established, while directorates were inaugurated in Enugu and Ilorin, as well as Ekiti, Anambra and Katsina.

…40 sacked

On effort to sanitise its operation, the EFCC boss said more than 40 staff of the Commission were dismissed in the last three years for corruption and financial malpractice since he assumed office.

According to him, five of the dismissed officers were currently being prosecuted, while the case files involving others were being prepared for prosecution.

“In the past two and a half years or three years of my service, I’ve asked them to dismiss over 40 staff on account of corruption and financial malpractice. More than five of them are being prosecuted at the moment,” Olukoyede said.

The agency, according to him, would not shield its personnel from prosecution when they were found to have engaged in the same corrupt practices the EFCC investigates among members of the public.

“Because if that is what people do in other agencies and I arrest them, I investigate them, I prosecute them, why must I just dismiss you if you do it within our own system and I’m not prosecuting you?” he quipped.

The anti-corruption agency chief said some of the affected personnel were already facing trial, while the commission was preparing case files against others.

He also disclosed that the Commission had renamed its former Department of Internal Affairs as the Department of Ethics and Integrity as part of measures to strengthen internal accountability.

According to Olukoyede, the change was intended to reflect the Commission’s commitment to what he described as “internal cleansing.”

He further revealed that the anti-graft body had developed a gift policy for its personnel to strengthen transparency and accountability among officers, adding that the personnel would be required to declare assets above a specified threshold, including gifts received from relatives abroad.

The chairman said the commission would also determine the categories of gifts its personnel could accept, noting that the policy was aimed at ensuring officers could account for their means of livelihood and standard of living.

“You must be sure that your hands are clean. You can’t be fighting corruption when your hands are soiled with corrupt practices,” Olukoyede said.