The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) says its asset recovery operations have returned N661.32 billion and $492.37 million to beneficiaries in the 34 months since Ola Olukoyede assumed office as its executive chairman.
While highlighting the growing fiscal and economic significance of anti-corruption enforcement, the commission said it recovered N1.23 trillion, $684.48 million, £373,905.78, and €9.34 million between October 2023 and June 2026, with a significant portion recovered on behalf of federal and state institutions, companies, individuals and foreign victims.
Olukoyede disclosed the figures on Monday in Abuja while presenting an account of his stewardship, arguing that the commission’s mandate should no longer be viewed simply through the prism of arrests and prosecutions.
He said the central objective was to ensure that recovered criminal proceeds were returned to rightful beneficiaries and converted into productive economic value.
The figures show that about N661.32 billion and $492.37 million of recovered funds had already been released to beneficiaries during the period under review.
Of the naira released, about N325.35 billion went directly to individuals and corporate organisations, while another N335.97 billion was released to ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), the Nigerian Revenue Service, state internal revenue services and other public institutions, companies and individuals.
The development comes as governments at both federal and state levels continue to face severe fiscal pressures, making recoveries from financial crimes an increasingly important source of additional fiscal resources.
Olukoyede said the commission’s recovery activities also generated substantial revenue for government through the enforcement of existing financial and tax obligations.
According to him, federal and state tax recoveries stood at approximately N288.1 billion during the period.
Federal tax recoveries accounted for N173.2 billion, while about N114.9 billion was recovered for state internal revenue services.
An additional N257.2 billion in naira recoveries was recorded for federal ministries, departments and agencies.
The EFCC chairman stressed that the revenue mobilisation did not result from imposing new taxes but from enforcing existing obligations.
“This is fiscal value recovered through enforcement of existing obligations, not through the imposition of new taxes,” he said.
Olukoyede cited the Federal Government’s decision in August 2024 to allocate N50 billion each from proceeds recovered by the EFCC to the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) and the Nigerian Consumer Credit Corporation.
He said further N50 billion allocations each to NELFUND and the Consumer Credit Corporation from EFCC recoveries were subsequently approved in 2026.
The development means proceeds recovered from alleged economic crimes are being redirected towards education financing and consumer credit rather than remaining idle as seized assets.
“This moves enforcement beyond punishment to restoration and productive national use,” Olukoyede said.
He also cited the conversion of the recovered NOK University into the Federal University of Applied Sciences, Kachia, Kaduna State, as an example of how asset recovery could generate longer-term economic and social benefits.
According to him, 1,909 students matriculated into the institution in December 2025.
The university, he said, could provide educational opportunities for students who might otherwise have been unable to afford tertiary education while stimulating economic activity in Southern Kaduna.
The EFCC said its total naira recovery of N1.233 trillion comprised both direct and indirect recoveries.
“Approximately N397.26 billion, or 33 percent, represented direct recoveries for the Federal Government.
“The remaining N836.34 billion, or 67 percent, was recovered on behalf of MDAs, state revenue services, companies, individuals and foreign victims”, Olukoyede said.
Olukoyede said two out of every three naira recovered by the commission were recovered for beneficiaries other than the Federal Government.
This includes funds returned to businesses and individuals, which could potentially restore working capital, improve liquidity and reduce losses associated with financial crimes.
“Recovery is only truly meaningful when value is returned to the public interest and to rightful beneficiaries,” he said.
The commission said its enforcement activities also resulted in the forfeiture of 10,053 tangible assets between October 2023 and July 2026.
The assets included 8,198 electronic items, 1,177 real estate properties, 370 automobiles and 251 plots of land.
Other forfeited assets included schools, factories, hotels, shops, oil rigs, barges, machinery and aircraft.
The EFCC also secured the forfeiture of 102 tonnes of solid minerals.
Olukoyede said the disposal of assets under final forfeiture orders generated approximately N12.07 billion, which was paid to the Federal Government.
The commission’s argument is that the economic value of enforcement goes beyond the cash it recovers, as forfeiture can remove assets from criminal enterprises and return them to productive or public use.
The EFCC also linked its enforcement activities to Nigeria’s efforts to strengthen the integrity of its financial system and restore international confidence.
Olukoyede said sustained enforcement against money laundering, terrorist financing, virtual assets and other high-risk financial activities formed part of the country’s wider efforts to address deficiencies in its anti-money laundering and counter-financing of terrorism framework.
He said Nigeria’s removal from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list in October 2025 was a national achievement to which the EFCC’s enforcement activities contributed.
Nigeria’s exit from the grey list is economically significant because deficiencies in a country’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing framework can increase compliance costs for financial institutions and complicate international transactions.
The EFCC chairman said the commission had also intensified enforcement against unlicensed bureaux de change, recording 234 cases and 73 convictions over the period.
He said the objective was to support a more formal and transparent foreign-exchange market and shut channels vulnerable to illicit financial flows, speculation and round-tripping.
The EFCC also said the nature of financial crime in Nigeria was changing rapidly, with cybercrime and advance-fee fraud emerging as dominant threats.
Between 2024 and 2026 year-to-date, the commission recorded 46,288 offences across nine major typologies.
Advance-fee fraud and cybercrime accounted for nearly two-thirds of the recorded offences.
Olukoyede said total recorded offences increased by 24.1 percent between 2024 and 2025, with significant increases in procurement fraud, bank fraud, cybercrime and economic-governance offences.
The trend, according to the EFCC, shows that financial crime is increasingly affecting ordinary citizens, businesses and institutions rather than being confined to cases involving politically exposed persons.
The commission recorded 920 cases in its specialised enforcement portfolio covering money laundering, unlicensed bureaux de change, illegal mining, virtual assets and terrorist financing.
It secured 212 convictions in the specialised portfolio, with money laundering and unlicensed BDC cases accounting for the largest share.
The EFCC said it was also strengthening its response to emerging risks associated with virtual assets and illicit financial flows from the extractive sector.
On its enforcement record, the commission said it received 49,673 petitions between October 2023 and July 2026.
Of these, 39,615 cases were investigated, while 14,476 cases were filed in court.
The commission secured 10,872 convictions within the period.
In the first six months of 2026 alone, it secured 1,370 convictions from 1,889 filings.
Olukoyede said the figures reflected an approach increasingly focused on investigations that can withstand judicial scrutiny rather than simply generating arrests.
The commission’s high-profile caseload has included former governors, ministers, heads of government agencies, financial-sector operators and corporate officials.
Among those recently convicted were former Minister of Power Saleh Mamman, former NEXIM Bank Managing Director Robert Orya and Chukwunyere Nwabuoku.
Olukoyede maintained that political or social status would not protect anyone from prosecution where credible evidence existed.
“No office or title places anyone beyond the reach of the law,” he said.
The commission said it was increasingly shifting towards prevention, risk assessment and technology as financial crimes become more sophisticated.
Olukoyede said almost 60 percent of the EFCC’s processes and operations had been digitalised.
The reforms include the creation of the Department of Fraud Risk Assessment and Control, Cybercrime Rapid Response Centre, Security Department and Immigration and Visa Section.
The commission also established new directorates in Ekiti, Anambra and Katsina states and commissioned directorates in Enugu and Ilorin.
It introduced new guidelines on arrest and bail, reviewed sting operations and established policies on gifts and hospitality, conflict of interest and exhibit-room security.
The Internal Affairs Department was also renamed the Ethics and Integrity Department as part of what Olukoyede described as an effort towards “internal cleansing”.
The EFCC said its new 24/7 Cybercrime Rapid Response Centre, known as E-C2R2, was designed to respond to the growing sophistication of cyber-enabled financial crimes.
For Olukoyede, the commission’s three-year performance demonstrates that anti-corruption enforcement can have measurable macroeconomic and fiscal consequences.
He said the commission’s work could restore fiscal space, strengthen government revenue, return working capital to businesses and individuals, protect the financial, extractive and digital sectors and improve Nigeria’s international credibility.
The EFCC chairman said the ultimate objective was to convert information into prevention, petitions into investigations, investigations into prosecutions, prosecutions into convictions and recoveries into restitution.
“We are not merely counting arrests or announcing recoveries,” he said.
Olukoyede said the commission would prioritise prevention, faster restitution, investment in investigative technology and greater professionalism in its engagement with citizens.
He said the EFCC would intensify the fight against corruption and economic crime while maintaining respect for due process.
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