The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has recorded 10,872 convictions and recovered more than N1.23 trillion alongside millions of dollars, pounds sterling and euros in a major anti-corruption drive under the leadership of its Executive Chairman, Ola Olukoyede.

The commission said the achievements were recorded over 34 months, during which it also investigated 39,615 cases, filed 14,476 cases before the courts and received 49,673 petitions between October 2023 and July 2026.

Olukoyede presented the figures during his three-year stewardship report at the EFCC headquarters in Abuja, where he said the commission had maintained an aggressive approach to investigations, prosecutions, asset recovery and institutional reforms.

According to him, the EFCC achieved a conviction-to-filing ratio of 75.1 per cent, including 1,370 convictions secured from 1,889 cases filed during the first half of 2026.

The EFCC chairman, however, warned that despite the progress recorded, Nigeria’s battle against economic and financial crimes was far from over.

He said the emergence of increasingly sophisticated cybercrime, financial fraud, virtual assets and illicit financial flows had created new challenges for law enforcement agencies.

Reflecting on his period in office, Olukoyede described the commission’s activities as a period of “sustained enforcement, institutional reform, prosecution, asset recovery, restitution and stronger collaboration at home and abroad.”

He said the EFCC was focused on ensuring that intelligence gathering and law enforcement translated into practical benefits for Nigerians.

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“Our responsibility is to convert information and intelligence into prevention, petitions into investigations, investigations into prosecutions, prosecutions into convictions, recoveries into restitution, and enforcement into measurable national value,” he said.

Olukoyede also provided insight into the changing pattern of financial crimes in Nigeria, revealing that EFCC data recorded 46,288 offences across nine major crime typologies between 2024 and 2026.

According to him, advance fee fraud and cybercrime accounted for nearly two-thirds of the recorded offences, while the total number of cases rose by 24.1 per cent between 2024 and 2025.

He said procurement fraud, bank fraud, cybercrime and economic-governance offences also recorded significant increases.

“This tells us something important,” Olukoyede said.

“The fight against economic and financial crime is not only about grand corruption. Every day, we are protecting citizens, businesses and institutions from fraud, cyber-enabled crime and other forms of economic exploitation.”

The commission, he added, had continued to pursue cases involving politically exposed persons, former governors, ministers, heads of government agencies, financial-sector operators and corporate executives.

Olukoyede cited the convictions of Saleh Mamman, Robert Orya and Chukwunyere Nwabuoku as examples of the commission’s continuing accountability efforts.

He declared, “No office or title places anyone beyond the reach of the law. We will continue to investigate professionally, prosecute on the strength of evidence and allow the courts to determine guilt or innocence.”

A major highlight of the EFCC’s report was the recovery of N1.233 trillion between October 1, 2023 and June 30, 2026.

Olukoyede said N397.26 billion, representing 33 per cent of the naira recoveries, was recovered directly for the Federal Government.

The remaining N836.34 billion, representing 67 per cent, was recovered on behalf of ministries, departments and agencies, state revenue services, companies, individuals and foreign victims.

The commission also reported recoveries of $684.48 million, £373,906 and €9.34 million during the broader reporting period.

Olukoyede stressed that asset recovery could only have real meaning when recovered funds and properties were returned to their legitimate owners or deployed for lawful public purposes.

During the period under review, the EFCC released N661.32 billion and $492.37 million to beneficiaries.

Of the naira sum, N325.35 billion was paid directly to individuals and corporate organisations, while N335.97 billion was released to MDAs, the Nigerian Revenue Service, state internal revenue services and other public institutions.

The commission also recovered approximately N288.1 billion in federal and state taxes, comprising N173.2 billion for the Federal Government and N114.9 billion for state internal revenue services.

Another N257.2 billion was recovered for federal ministries, departments and agencies.

Olukoyede said the impact of anti-corruption enforcement extended beyond arrests and convictions, noting that recovered assets were increasingly being channelled towards productive national programmes.

He recalled that the Federal Government approved N50 billion each from EFCC recoveries for the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, NELFUND, and the Nigerian Consumer Credit Corporation in August 2024.

According to him, another N50 billion allocation was approved for each of the two institutions in 2026.

The EFCC chairman also pointed to the conversion of the recovered NOK University into the Federal University of Applied Sciences, Kachia, Kaduna State.

He said the institution matriculated 1,909 students in December 2025.

“Anti-corruption enforcement can restore fiscal space, strengthen federal and sub-national revenue, return working capital to institutions, companies and citizens, support financial-market integrity, protect the extractive and digital economies and strengthen Nigeria’s international credibility,” he said.

Beyond cash recoveries, the commission said it secured interim and final forfeiture orders for 10,053 tangible assets between October 2023 and July 2026.

The assets included 8,198 electronic items, 1,177 real estate properties, 370 vehicles and 251 plots of land.

Other assets forfeited to the government 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 about N12.07 billion, which was paid into the Federal Government’s coffers.

The EFCC chairman also listed Nigeria’s removal from the Financial Action Task Force Grey List in October 2025 among the major achievements of the country’s wider anti-money laundering campaign.

He said the commission contributed to the national effort through enforcement activities relating to money laundering, terrorist financing, asset freezing and confiscation, virtual assets and other high-risk areas.

The EFCC also intensified operations against illegal bureaux de change, recording 234 BDC-related cases and securing 73 convictions during the three-year period.

According to Olukoyede, the campaign was aimed at strengthening transparency in the foreign exchange market and blocking channels that could facilitate illicit financial flows, speculation and round-tripping.

On internal reforms, Olukoyede said the commission introduced new guidelines governing arrests and bail and reviewed its approach to sting operations.

The EFCC also established the Department of Fraud Risk Assessment and Control, a Security Department, an Immigration and Visa Section and a Cybercrime Rapid Response Centre.

The commission expanded its physical presence across the country with the commissioning of directorates in Enugu and Ilorin and the establishment of new directorates in Ekiti, Anambra and Katsina states.

Olukoyede said almost 60 per cent of EFCC processes and operations had now been digitalised.

He added that the commission was investing in technology, the EFCC Academy, its 24-hour Cybercrime Rapid Response Centre and EFCC Radio.

Despite the achievements outlined in the report, the EFCC chairman acknowledged that organised economic crime was becoming increasingly sophisticated and international in nature.

He said stronger cooperation between Nigerian law enforcement institutions and their foreign counterparts had become essential.

The commission currently works with agencies including the FBI, the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and INTERPOL, among others.

Olukoyede, who was re-elected President of the Network of National Anti-Corruption Institutions in West Africa, said regional cooperation was becoming increasingly important in the fight against financial crimes and in tracing and recovering illicit assets.

Looking ahead, he said the commission would focus on strengthening preventive measures, speeding up restitution, deploying more advanced investigative technology and improving professionalism in its dealings with members of the public.

“We have made significant progress, but the work is not finished. It continues with renewed determination,” he said.

Olukoyede pledged that the EFCC would sustain and intensify its campaign against corruption and economic crimes while upholding due process and ensuring that its operations continued to deliver “measurable value for the public.”

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