Ola Olukoyede, chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), says the federal government has allocated N100 billion from funds recovered by the anti-graft agency to the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) since 2024.
Speaking at a press briefing on Monday in Abuja on the
achievements of the commission under his leadership, Olukoyede said the
commission has recovered over N1.23 trillion and $684 million in 33 months.
The EFCC chairman added that N50 billion had been approved
in both 2024 and 2026 from the recovered funds for the student loan scheme.
“The national impact of recovery is perhaps clearest when
proceeds of crime are converted into productive social investment,” Olukoyede
said.
“In August 2024, the federal government directed that N50
billion each be allocated to the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) and the
Nigerian Consumer Credit Corporation from proceeds of crime recovered by the
EFCC.
“Further NELFUND and Credit Corp funding from EFCC
recoveries (50Billion naira each) was subsequently approved in 2026.”
He said when “recovered criminal value” helps finance
education and household credit, enforcement moves beyond punishment to
restoration and productive national use.
TWO PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES RECOVERED
Olukoyede said two private universities recovered by the
agency were also forfeited to the federal government over the past two years.
He identified one of them as NOK University, which was
forfeited by Anthony Hassan, a former director of finance and accounts at the
federal ministry of health.
Olukoyede said the university, which has been converted to
the Federal University of Applied Sciences, Kachia, Kaduna state, admitted
1,909 students in December 2025.
“These are students who ordinarily would not have been
afforded the opportunity of tertiary education,” he said.
“In addition, another private university of high value has
just been finally forfeited to the federal government.”
He said the recoveries show that anti-corruption enforcement
can restore fiscal space, strengthen federal and sub-national revenue, and
return working capital to institutions, companies and citizens.
NELFUND was established in 2024 after President Bola Tinubu
signed the Student Loans (Access to Higher Education) Act into law to provide
interest-free loans to eligible students in tertiary institutions.
On July 4, the fund said it had disbursed loans worth over
N303 billion to 1,635,676 beneficiaries from a total of 1,800,489 applications.
On August 19, Tinubu directed that all funds recovered by
the EFCC, as well as unclaimed dividends in the Capital Market Trust Fund and
Dormant Account Trust Fund, be channelled to NELFUND to expand its reach and
strengthen its efficiency.
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