The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr Ola Olukoyede, says the commission is shifting from waiting for financial crimes to occur to preventing them through early detection and asset freezing.
Olukoyede said this on Monday in Abuja at a media interactive session marking his third year in office.
He said the EFCC had established the Fraud Risk Assessment and Control Department (FRAC) to monitor suspicious financial movements and take action within 72 hours.
“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.
The EFCC chairman said public officials were increasingly moving stolen funds into cryptocurrency wallets within 24 hours, often through young people, making recovery more difficult.
He said about 40 virtual asset platforms had been licensed in Nigeria, enabling the commission to trace registered wallets.
Olukoyede added that, with presidential approval, the EFCC and relevant agencies had established a national confiscation wallet for storing seized cryptocurrencies.
On legal strategy, he said the commission was using Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud Act to pursue civil asset forfeiture rather than waiting for lengthy criminal trials.
“This is faster and quicker than criminal trial. We don’t have to wait 10, 15 years when witnesses die and assets are dissipated,” he said.
He explained that under the civil process, the commission could file an action against an asset directly, while anyone claiming ownership would be required to explain the source of the funds.
Olukoyede said the approach had yielded results in several ongoing cases involving assets traced to former officials.
He said the EFCC had also established a dedicated Process and Proceeds Management directorate to oversee forfeited assets, with professionals appointed to manage different categories of property in line with the Proceeds of Crime Act 2022.
The chairman said the commission had begun disposing of assets that were depreciating during litigation and placing the proceeds in escrow accounts pending court decisions.
He called for stronger policy and institutional reforms, saying law enforcement alone could not win the fight against financial crime.
“The most effective system is not law enforcement. It is the policy regime, institutional reforms that close leakages,” he said.
Olukoyede also urged the media and civil society to return to their watchdog role in the fight against corruption.
