The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, has called on the National Assembly to urgently pass legislation criminalising unexplained wealth, describing it as a critical tool needed to confront Nigeria’s deep-rooted corruption crisis.
Olukoyede made the call while speaking at the National Conference on Public Accounts and Fiscal Governance held in Abuja on Wednesday. The event was organised by the Public Accounts Committees of both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
In a powerful address, the EFCC boss emphasised that Nigeria’s fight against corruption is being severely hampered by the lack of legal authority to question or confiscate assets that significantly exceed a public officer’s known sources of income.
“Help me pass the Unexplained Wealth Bill. I’ve been begging for the past year,” Olukoyede pleaded. “This same bill was thrown out by the last Assembly. If we don’t make individuals accountable for what they have, we’ll never get it right.”
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He cited glaring examples of public servants with decades of modest salaries yet owning luxury properties in upscale Abuja neighborhoods such as Maitama and Asokoro, without any clear financial justification.
“We’re told to go and prove a predicate offence before we can act. That is absurd,” he lamented.
Olukoyede warned that the implications of unchecked public sector corruption extend far beyond economic loss, linking it directly to Nigeria’s worsening insecurity.
“There is a strong connection between the mismanagement of our resources and insecurity,” he said. “When you look at banditry, kidnapping, and terrorism, trace them back, and you will find a pattern of corrupt practices and diversion of funds that were meant to improve people’s lives.”
He further revealed that a recent EFCC-led investigation into the extractive sector—particularly oil and gas—had unearthed staggering levels of financial malpractice.
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“What we have discovered is mind-boggling,” he disclosed. “We have only just opened the books. If this is what we’re seeing at the surface, imagine what lies beneath.”
The EFCC chairman lamented that current laws require the commission to establish proof of theft, fraud, or other predicate offences before it can act against individuals suspected of illicit enrichment, a limitation he described as a major bottleneck in securing convictions and recovering looted assets.
In a separate update, Olukoyede announced that 146 out of 194 foreign nationals arrested in 2024 for cyber-related financial crimes have been successfully prosecuted.
“They will serve their jail terms and will be repatriated to their respective countries,” he said.
The EFCC chairman’s passionate call for legislative action was met with interest by lawmakers present at the conference, though it remains to be seen if the 10th National Assembly will revisit and approve the Unexplained Wealth Bill, which was rejected by the previous session.