In Nigeria for every N10 recovered by EFCC, more than N50 is stolen
Ola Olukoyede, Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has revealed that the commission retrieves less than 20% of embezzled public funds in Nigeria. He also noted that the cost of recovering these funds amounts to 25% of the total recovered.
Olukoyede made these remarks while receiving the “Man of Valour” Award from Global Peace Movement International (GPMI) on Wednesday, July 3. He emphasized the urgent need to prevent the theft of public funds, expressing his determination not to disappoint Nigerians and to take a tough stance against corruption.
“For every N10 the EFCC recovers, more than N50 has been stolen and for you to recover that N10, you need approximately N2.50k.”
Olukoyede reiterated his administration’s commitment to implementing preventive measures to combat corruption, lamenting the extensive financial misconduct by public officials and questioning how the nation manages amidst such losses.
“We decided to go by the way of prevention and I set up a directorate of Fraud Risk Assessment and Control (FRAC). With this Directorate, we are going into MDAs and monitor real time the implementation of budgets. As money is being released, we will be tracking it,” he said.
Olukoyede attributed the awards he received to the EFCC, thanking the management and staff for their support to GPMI.
He emphasised that anyone supporting the EFCC in its efforts against economic and financial crimes is contributing to the fight against corruption.
He said: “On behalf of the management and staff of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission I would like to thank you very much for the honour that you have done to us. I want to tell you that we would not take the honour for granted. We are going to improve on whatever that has led to this. Everyone who identifies with our mandate is a corruption fighter.
“If God has not brought someone like President Bola Ahmed Tinubu who gives us free hand to do this job, imagine what would have happened to our system? There is so much to be done and somebody must do this job. Let us come together to give Nigerians the benefit of good governance.”
“We will do the mini; we will do the mega. If you don’t do the mini, the mini will become the mega. Some of these people stealing money in high places started from the local governments, they started as leaders of associations in schools, where they stole money and they did nothing to them and it became part of their lives,” he said.
“In 2022, we lost over $500million in our economy to yahoo boys. The statistics are there. In the same year, about 71 international companies left Nigeria because they hacked their accounts.
“We can’t get credit cards in Nigeria because of our poor credit rating because of the activities of these cyber criminals, so the best we can get is debit cards.
“Do you know that there are some international merchants that you cannot use Nigerian cards on their platforms? Display your Green Passport outside the country and see if they will not take you aside and search you thoroughly.”
The EFCC chairman urged Nigerians to wholeheartedly support the battle against economic and financial crimes for the nation’s collective well-being.
