Of N33 billion stolen from Ministry, civil servants took N30 billion- EFCC Chairman

Says Yahoo Boys now conduit for stolen funds

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, has said that civil servants are far more complicit in stealing public funds than appointed political officeholders in Nigeria.

While not absolving the political class, he held that while political appointees come and go, civil servants are a constant factor in the public sector. He disclosed that in a particular ministry the commission investigated, it was discovered that of the N33.7 billion allegedly looted, civil servants took N30.7 billion, while the minister at the heart of the inquiry took N3 billion— less than 10 percent of the entire money stolen.

Olukoyede made these disclosures in an interview he shared on his X handle over the weekend.

“This disparity highlights the significant role civil servants play in corruption, often more so than politicians. The gamut of money stolen by establishment people far exceeds what politicians have stolen,” Olukoyede stated.

He disclosed that many houses in Asokoro and Maitama areas in Abuja are owned by civil servants, noting that corruption is not limited to the public sector, because the private sector was equally culpable.

“The EFCC’s findings underscore the need for a thorough examination of corruption in Nigeria, particularly within the civil service,” he said.
“There is no doubt that we have corruption in the public service, but I will tell you also that the private sector is as bad as the public sector from all the investigation work we have done.
“But coming to the public service … we have discovered that it is extremely difficult for the political class to steal money without the connivance of— from our own point of work, we call them establishment people. They are always there; political appointees will come and go; these guys are always there, and I will give you a typical example.

“We investigated this particular ministry. The Minister, then, we were prosecuting him: we discovered that about N33.7 billion was stolen. Only N3 billion we were able to trace to the Minister, and the remaining N30.7 billion was traced to the director of finance, director of procurement, director of this and director of that, the establishment people.

“So when you look at the gamut of the money stolen by the establishment people, it is much more than what the politicians have stolen, and that’s the truth, Nigerians must realise that.”

According to him, “When you trace money to people and they use it to buy houses in their names or you discover the money in the accounts of their children and their cronies, and in the course of making statements they don’t deny that the money belonged to them, if they had mentioned the name of the Minister in the course of making a statement, we would have said okay, they were just accessories, either to or after the fact.

“But when they own up, you know the moment you catch them and you do your diligent investigation with – documentary evidence – it would be difficult for people to deny.
“Look, statistics have shown, because we carry out surveys on real estate in Abuja, many houses in Asokoro and Maitama are owned by civil servants.

“Yes, statistics have shown that. We have evidence to prove that. We have discovered that it’s important for us to beam our searchlight on the establishment people, on the core civil service sector – permanent secretaries, directors, and generally the civil servants.”

In a separate interview broadcast earlier, the EFCC boss had raised alarm that advance free fraud crooks, notoriously called “yahoo yahoo” or “419” in Nigeria, were now being used as conduits to launder stolen funds.

In an interview with Television Continental, TVC, Olukoyede cautioned Nigerians from dismissing EFCC’s war on 419 as overly heavy-handed, because it has not only stained the country’s image on the global stage, but is now a major route to launder stolen funds for politically exposed persons.

He disclosed that the commission is currently investigating a 22-year-old Yahoo boy who had a total turnover in excess of N5 billion in his account within 18 months, and findings have shown that he was laundering money for politically exposed persons.
“ It is a major crisis. They use them to steal government money,” he said.