Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, has said the agency can recover at most about 60% of funds once they have been stolen, underscoring the limits of asset recovery and the need to prioritise prevention.
Olukoyede made the comments on Friday during the inauguration of the EFCC’s new zonal directorate in Awka, Anambra State, an event attended by federal and state dignitaries including the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, and the governors of Anambra and Imo states.
He said the facility, which will serve both Anambra and Imo, is intended to expand the commission’s operational footprint and strengthen anti-corruption oversight in the southeast.
While detailing the commission’s experience with asset recovery, Olukoyede said that once money is stolen, “the best you can recover is 60 percent,” and that the recovery process itself can consume 20–25% of whatever is eventually retrieved.
On that basis, he argued that preventing corruption and fraud in the first place remains the most effective strategy for Nigeria’s anti-corruption fight.
The EFCC Chairman urged citizens, religious leaders, traditional rulers and other stakeholders not to hesitate to report suspected corruption or financial fraud to the commission.
He cited recent enforcement actions, including the conviction of 21 people over an unlicensed investment scam and the recovery of more than a billion naira in one case, as evidence of the scale and sophistication of economic crimes the agency confronts.
In separate remarks earlier this year, Olukoyede reported that over 34 months of his tenure (October 2023–June 2026), the EFCC recovered ₦1.23 trillion, $684.48 million and other currencies, with about two-thirds of naira recoveries made on behalf of agencies, companies, individuals and foreign victims rather than the federal government.
The Awka zonal office is part of efforts to deepen that reach, including ongoing digitisation of EFCC processes, which he said now cover more than 60% of the commission’s activities.
