President Bola Tinubu has commended the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for securing 10,872 convictions and recovering assets worth N1.23 trillion in 34 months.
Represented by Vice-President Kashim Shettim, the president
spoke in Abuja on Tuesday at the opening of the eighth EFCC/National Judicial
Institute (NJI) workshop for judges and justices.
Tinubu said the EFCC had made significant progress in
combating financial crimes, recovering illicit assets and strengthening
Nigeria’s international financial standing.
The three-day workshop, themed “Investigation and
Prosecution of Economic and Financial Crimes in a Digital Age”, will end on
Thursday, October 15.
Tinubu praised EFCC’s efforts to combat cryptocurrency fraud
and recover virtual assets, saying the agency had demonstrated its
determination to keep pace with evolving criminal methods.
“The EFCC’s recent momentum in tackling cryptocurrency fraud
and its commendable strides in recovering virtual assets is highly reassuring,”
he said.
The president also cited the prosecution and subsequent
deportation of 192 foreign nationals arrested for cyberterrorism and
cryptocurrency fraud as evidence of the commission’s efforts to tackle
technology-driven crimes.
In September, EFCC said it received 49,673 petitions and
investigated 39,615 cases between October 1, 2023, and July 31, 2026.
The investigations resulted in 14,476 court filings and
10,872 convictions, representing a 75.1 percent conviction-to-filing ratio.
The commission also said it recovered N1.233 trillion,
$684.48 million, £373,905.78 and €9.34 million during the period under review.
He said the increasing sophistication of financial crimes,
fuelled by blockchain technology and artificial intelligence (AI), had made
continuous training necessary for investigators, prosecutors and judicial
officers.
Tinubu said the government would continue to support
judicial capacity development, noting that an independent and reform-minded
judiciary was essential to combatting corruption.
He urged the EFCC and the judiciary to strengthen
prosecutorial discipline and address procedural loopholes that allow defendants
to frustrate trials.
The president expressed concern that major anti-corruption
cases could be lost on procedural technicalities, potentially undermining
public confidence in the justice system.
He added that the fight against corruption should not be
treated as the responsibility of the executive alone but as a collective duty
of all arms of government.
Tinubu also said asset recoveries had provided critical
fiscal support for social intervention programmes, including the Nigerian
Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) and the Nigerian Consumer Credit Corporation
(CREDICORP).
‘OLUKOYEDE: PROLONGED TRIAL COULD WEAKEN EVIDENCE’
Ola Olukoyede, EFCC chairman, said the commission had
introduced operational reforms to improve asset recovery and increase
convictions.
He said the EFCC was strengthening intelligence-led
investigations, forensic capabilities and domestic and international
cooperation while improving its understanding of emerging financial
technologies.
“We do not seek simply to investigate more people; we seek
to investigate more intelligently,” Olukoyede said.
“We do not seek merely to prosecute more cases; we seek to
prosecute cases that are properly investigated and capable of meeting the
required standard of proof.”
He said the commission also sought to ensure that asset
recoveries were lawful, transparent and sustainable.
Olukoyede identified institutional bottlenecks, procedural
delays, frivolous adjournments and frequent changes of legal counsel as
obstacles to the effective prosecution of complex financial crime cases.
He warned that prolonged trials could weaken evidence,
affect witnesses and erode public confidence in the judiciary.
The EFCC chairman urged judges to approach corruption cases
with integrity, judicial courage and a commitment to the rule of law.
He said the commission was not asking judges to compromise
due process or manufacture evidence to secure convictions but to ensure
rigorous and expeditious adjudication.
Olukoyede added that effective anti-corruption efforts
required a justice system in which investigators understood evidentiary
requirements, prosecutors anticipated challenges, forensic specialists
presented digital evidence clearly and judges understood emerging methods of
financial crime.
CJN WARNS AGAINST COMPROMISING FAIR HEARING
Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, chief justice of Nigeria (CJN), said
the judiciary must strengthen its capacity to handle emerging forms of
financial crime while upholding fair hearing, due process and judicial
independence.
She said cryptocurrency transactions, encrypted
communications, electronic records and cross-border financial activities had
introduced new complexities into criminal proceedings.
Kekere-Ekun said judges needed to understand how digital
evidence was obtained, preserved, authenticated and evaluated.
She emphasised that the seriousness of an allegation must
not determine the outcome of a trial, adding that the prosecution must
establish its case through credible and legally admissible evidence.
The CJN also called for effective case management under the
Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, urging judges to prevent
unnecessary delays without compromising the rights of parties.
She said continued judicial education had improved judges’
capacity to handle financial crime cases.
Kekere-Ekun also cited Nigeria’s removal from the financial
action task force’s grey list on October 24, 2025, as an important milestone
that required sustained institutional commitment.
She urged the judiciary to maintain high professional
standards in adjudicating corruption, money laundering and other financial
crimes.
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