By Yinka Giwa
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has unveiled a more aggressive preventive strategy against financial crime, including the freezing of suspicious fund movements within 72 hours, tracking of cryptocurrency wallets, and increased use of civil asset forfeiture to recover proceeds of crime without waiting for lengthy criminal trials.
Chairman of the Commission, Mr Ola Olukoyede, disclosed the measures on Monday in Abuja at a media interactive session marking his third year in office, saying the EFCC was increasingly moving away from an enforcement model that waits for public funds to be stolen before intervening.
Olukoyede said the Commission had established a Fraud Risk Assessment and Control Department (FRAC) to detect suspicious transactions early, assess emerging fraud risks, and intervene before funds disappear through increasingly sophisticated financial channels.
“Why must we be waiting for money to be stolen? When we see money moving suspiciously, we move in and freeze. Pending 72 hours, we ask: where is this money going?” he said.
According to him, the change in strategy has become necessary because financial crimes are evolving rapidly, with stolen public funds capable of being moved through multiple accounts and converted into digital assets within hours.
He cited an instance in which funds were transferred from a local government account to a company before being moved into cryptocurrency wallets, saying such transactions demonstrated how quickly proceeds of corruption could be taken beyond conventional banking channels.
Olukoyede said investigations by the Commission had shown that some public officials now move stolen funds into cryptocurrency wallets within 24 hours, sometimes using young people as intermediaries, creating fresh challenges for investigators seeking to trace and recover the assets.
He warned that the increasing digitalisation of financial transactions had fundamentally altered the nature of economic and financial crimes, with enormous sums now capable of being transferred without leaving behind the kind of physical assets traditionally targeted by investigators.
“At the press of a button, you can collapse the entire banking industry in Nigeria. Most of the data we are investigating now, you can’t trace tangible assets to them,” the EFCC chairman said.
To strengthen the Commission’s response to virtual-asset crimes, Olukoyede said about 40 virtual asset platforms had been licensed in Nigeria, while the EFCC had developed the capacity to trace registered cryptocurrency wallets.
He disclosed that, following presidential approval, the EFCC and relevant government agencies had also established a national confiscation wallet into which seized cryptocurrencies and other virtual assets could be transferred and securely held.
“One of the problems we used to have was: where do you put confiscated virtual assets? Today we have a national wallet that we put them into,” he said.
The EFCC chairman also disclosed that the Commission was increasingly deploying Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act to pursue civil forfeiture of assets suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activity.
He said the strategy enabled the Commission to proceed directly against suspicious assets instead of depending exclusively on criminal prosecution, which could remain in court for years while witnesses died, evidence deteriorated or assets lost value.
“This is faster and quicker than a criminal trial. We don’t have to wait 10, 15 years when witnesses die and assets are dissipated,” Olukoyede said.
Under the civil forfeiture process, he explained, the EFCC can institute proceedings against the asset itself, leaving anyone claiming ownership to establish a legitimate interest in the property and explain the source of the funds used to acquire it.
Olukoyede said the approach was already producing results in several cases involving assets traced to former public officials.
He also clarified that the EFCC does not directly operate or manage properties and businesses forfeited to the Federal Government.
According to him, professional asset managers are appointed in accordance with the Proceeds of Crime Act 2022, depending on the nature of the forfeited property.
“For real estate we have estate managers. For virtual assets, we have stock market professionals. For a radio station we call broadcast experts,” he said.
Olukoyede said the Commission had equally begun disposing of assets that could substantially depreciate while litigation was pending, with proceeds from such sales placed in escrow accounts until the courts finally determined ownership.
He disclosed that some high-profile hotels recently forfeited in Lagos had been placed under new management, while banks had been directed to ensure that revenues and sales proceeds generated from the businesses were appropriately remitted.
To strengthen oversight of recovered and forfeited property, the Commission has established a dedicated Process and Proceeds Management directorate responsible for managing the processes surrounding forfeited assets.
Olukoyede said the reforms were part of a wider effort to ensure that recovered assets retained their economic value rather than deteriorating during prolonged litigation.
The EFCC chairman also called for stronger institutional and policy reforms, stressing that law enforcement agencies alone could not defeat corruption and financial crime.
He urged institutions and civil society organisations to strengthen their watchdog responsibilities, arguing that prevention, transparency and institutional accountability were essential to reducing opportunities for corruption.
Olukoyede also presented the Commission’s enforcement scorecard, disclosing that the EFCC recovered about N1.233 trillion between October 2023 and July 2026.
The Commission recorded additional recoveries equivalent to $684.48 million across 16 currencies during the 34-month period.
A breakdown of the naira component showed that N397.26 billion was classified as direct recovery for the Federal Government, while N836.35 billion was recovered for individuals, corporate organisations and government agencies.
The Commission also filed 14,476 cases and secured 10,872 convictions during the period.
Olukoyede said the significance of asset recovery went beyond the headline figures, arguing that recovered funds could provide fiscal space for government, compensate victims, support social investment and return illegally diverted resources to productive economic use.
He said the combination of early detection, rapid freezing of suspicious transactions, cryptocurrency tracing, civil forfeiture and professional management of seized assets represented a deliberate shift towards preventing criminals from enjoying or dissipating the proceeds of financial crime.
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