By Alifa Daniel, Consulting Editor.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) says it recovered more than N1.23 trillion and $684.5 million in proceeds of crime between October 2023 and June 2026, according to Executive Chairman Ola Olukoyede,
putting renewed focus on one of the most important questions surrounding Nigeria’s anti-corruption campaign: what happens to the money after it is recovered?
Olukoyede, who disclosed the figures in Abuja while presenting an account of his stewardship at the commission, said the EFCC had also secured 10,872 convictions from 14,476 cases filed in court during the period.
The figures, he said, represented the outcome of sustained investigation, prosecution, asset recovery, restitution and institutional reforms undertaken since he assumed office.
But beyond the scale of the recoveries, the figures have also brought the management and utilisation of recovered assets into focus, particularly as billions of naira and hundreds of millions of dollars have been recovered from individuals, companies and criminal networks.
The issue is especially significant because, according to the EFCC’s own breakdown, only about N397.26 billion, or 33 per cent of the N1.23 trillion naira recoveries, constituted direct recoveries for the Federal Government.
The remaining N836.34 billion, or 67 per cent, was recovered on behalf of ministries, departments and agencies, state revenue authorities, companies, individuals and foreign victims.
That distinction means that the headline figure of N1.23 trillion cannot simply be treated as money available for general government spending.
Still, a fundamental question remains: how much of the money belonging to the Federal Government has been returned to the Treasury, how much remains in recovery accounts or under court orders, where has the money already released gone, and what independent mechanisms are in place to enable Nigerians to track every naira and dollar?
Recovery must lead to restitution, EFCC says
Olukoyede said the commission had released N661.32 billion and $492.37 million to beneficiaries during the period under review.
Of the naira releases, about N325.35 billion went directly to individuals and corporate bodies, while another N335.97 billion was released to government ministries, departments and agencies, the Nigerian Revenue Service, state internal revenue services and other public institutions, companies and individuals.
The EFCC chairman said the commission’s objective was not merely to announce recoveries but to ensure that assets were ultimately returned to their rightful owners or converted into value for Nigerians.
“Two out of every three naira recovered were on behalf of beneficiaries other than the Federal Government,” he said.
The commission also recovered about N288.1 billion in taxes, comprising approximately N173.2 billion in federal taxes and N114.9 billion for state internal revenue services.
Olukoyede described the tax recoveries as revenue mobilisation achieved through enforcement of existing obligations rather than the imposition of new taxes.
On the face of the figures released by the EFCC, the difference between total recoveries and reported naira releases is substantial—about N572.29 billion, while the difference in dollar recoveries and dollar releases is about $192.1 million.
However, those differences should not automatically be interpreted as money sitting idle in government accounts because the recovery and release figures cover different categories of beneficiaries, assets, court processes and reporting periods.
Nevertheless, they underline the need for a comprehensive public accounting of recovered assets: Where is the money? Who owns it? Who has received it? Under what legal authority was it disbursed? And what public value has been created from it?
What has happened to recovered funds in the past?
The government’s history of asset recovery provides examples of what can happen when recovered money is tied to specific projects and subjected to external monitoring.
One of the clearest precedents is the recovery of assets linked to former military ruler Sani Abacha.
In 2020, the United States transferred more than $311.7 million in forfeited Abacha-linked assets to Nigeria under a tripartite arrangement involving the United States, Nigeria and Jersey.
Unlike an unrestricted transfer into government finances, the agreement specified that the money would support three major infrastructure projects – the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Abuja-Kano Road and Second Niger Bridge – with the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) administering the funds. The arrangement also provided for independent financial review and civil-society monitoring.
The NSIA subsequently reported that recovered funds were being disbursed for work done on the three Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund projects. Its records show that recovered funds were applied to the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Second Niger Bridge and Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano Road.
By the first quarter of 2024, the NSIA reported that the Abacha funds had been converted at an exchange rate of N412 to the dollar, with the proceeds and investment income producing an allocation of about N135.9 billion, distributed among the three projects.
Another precedent involved approximately $322 million returned from Switzerland in 2018.
Those funds were channelled into Nigeria’s National Social Safety Net Programme, with the World Bank monitoring the use of the returned assets. The programme targeted poor and vulnerable households through cash transfers. By June 2020, the World Bank reported that $113.3 million of the returned funds had been disbursed to more than 800,000 households, representing more than four million individuals.
Earlier Swiss recoveries also provide an example. A World Bank/StAR review records that about $50.5 million returned to Nigeria in 2004 was earmarked for pro-poor projects in power, public works, health, education and water resources, with World Bank involvement in monitoring.
The lessons from those cases are straightforward: recovery becomes meaningful when Nigerians can identify the project, beneficiary, amount released, implementing institution and measurable result.
That history therefore raises another question for the current EFCC figures: will the N1.23 trillion and $684.5 million be accompanied by the same level of project-by-project transparency where public funds are involved?
N50bn each for student loans, consumer credit
Olukoyede said recovered criminal proceeds had already been used to support social investment.
He recalled that the Federal Government in 2024 directed that N50 billion each from recovered proceeds of crime be allocated to the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) and the Nigerian Consumer Credit Corporation.
He added that additional N50 billion allocations each to the two institutions were approved in 2026.
President Bola Tinubu had announced in August 2024 that an additional N50 billion each would be released to NELFUND and the Consumer Credit Corporation from EFCC-recovered proceeds of crime.
The approach represents a potentially important evolution in asset recovery: rather than simply returning recovered money to a government account, criminal proceeds can be deliberately transformed into investments with identifiable beneficiaries.
But it also creates a new accountability obligation.
How many students have benefited from the recovered funds? How much has actually been disbursed? How many Nigerians have obtained consumer credit from the allocation? What are the repayment rates, administrative costs and measurable outcomes?
Without such information, the announcement of recovered money risks becoming an end in itself rather than evidence of improved public welfare.
Recovered university becomes federal institution
Olukoyede also cited the conversion of the recovered NOK University into the Federal University of Applied Sciences, Kachia, Kaduna State.
He said 1,909 students matriculated into the institution in December 2025, describing the development as an example of how recovered assets could be converted into long-term public value.
Another private university described as a high-value asset has also been finally forfeited to the Federal Government, he said.
Beyond cash, the EFCC secured the forfeiture of 10,053 tangible assets under interim and final court orders between October 2023 and July 2026.
They included 8,198 electronic items, 1,177 real estate properties, 370 automobiles and 251 plots of land, as well as schools, factories, hotels, shops, oil rigs, barges, machinery and aircraft.
The commission also secured forfeiture of 102 tonnes of solid minerals.
Olukoyede said the disposal of assets under final forfeiture orders generated about N12.07 billion, which was paid into government coffers.
The Federal Ministry of Justice says its Asset Recovery and Management Unit is responsible for facilitating asset recovery, managing and disposing of recovered assets and coordinating implementation of the Proceeds of Crime (Recovery and Management) Act 2022. The ministry also says it maintains a central database for recovered assets and serves as secretariat to the inter-ministerial committee on disposal of federal government forfeited assets.
That institutional architecture could provide the basis for a much more detailed public register showing what has been recovered, what has been forfeited, what has been sold, what remains under litigation and where the proceeds have gone.
49,673 petitions, 10,872 convictions
Olukoyede said the commission received 49,673 petitions, investigated 39,615 cases and filed 14,476 cases in court during the period.
The cases resulted in 10,872 convictions.
In the first half of 2026 alone, he said, the EFCC secured 1,370 convictions from 1,889 cases filed.
The chairman said the figures demonstrated a shift towards evidence-based investigation and prosecution, with greater emphasis on ensuring that investigations translate into successful courtroom outcomes.
He said the commission had continued to investigate high-profile cases irrespective of the status of suspects, including cases involving former governors, ministers, public office holders, heads of government agencies, financial-sector operators and corporate executives.
He listed among recent high-profile outcomes the convictions of former Minister of Power Saleh Mamman, former NEXIM Bank Managing Director Robert Orya, and Chukwunyere Nwabuoku.
“No office or title places anyone beyond the reach of the law,” Olukoyede said.
He stressed that the commission would investigate professionally, prosecute on the strength of evidence and leave the courts to determine the guilt or innocence of accused persons.
Cybercrime drives changing crime pattern
The EFCC chairman said the nature of economic and financial crimes in Nigeria was also changing rapidly.
According to him, cybercrime and advance-fee fraud accounted for nearly two-thirds of offences recorded between 2024 and 2026 year-to-date.
The commission recorded 46,288 offences across nine major categories, while total recorded offences rose by 24.1 per cent between 2024 and 2025.
Significant increases, he said, were recorded in procurement fraud, bank fraud, cybercrime and economic-governance offences.
Olukoyede said the development showed that the EFCC’s mandate went beyond the traditional prosecution of grand corruption.
“The fight against economic and financial crime is not only about grand corruption,” he said, arguing that the commission was also protecting citizens, businesses and institutions against fraud, cyber-enabled crime and other forms of economic exploitation.
The commission recorded 920 cases under its specialised enforcement portfolio, covering money laundering, unlicensed bureaux de change, illegal mining, virtual assets and terrorist financing.
It secured 212 convictions in those cases, with money laundering and unlicensed bureaux de change accounting for the largest portion of the portfolio.
The EFCC also recorded 234 BDC-related cases, resulting in 73 convictions, as part of efforts to support a more formal foreign-exchange market and combat illicit financial flows, speculation and round-tripping.
FATF, international cooperation
Olukoyede said the commission’s enforcement activities had also contributed to Nigeria’s broader anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist-financing framework.
He linked investigations involving money laundering, terrorist financing, asset freezing and confiscation, virtual assets and other high-risk sectors to Nigeria’s efforts to strengthen its financial system.
He noted Nigeria’s removal from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list in October 2025, describing it as a national achievement to which EFCC
investigations and enforcement contributed.
He also cited cooperation with international agencies including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, UK National Crime Agency, Royal Canadian Mounted Police and INTERPOL.
According to him, the commission had recovered assets across several jurisdictions and currencies and returned some recovered assets to foreign individuals and entities.
At the regional level, he said he had been re-elected president of the Network of National Anti-Corruption Institutions in West Africa (NACIWA) for another three-year term.
Institutional reforms
Olukoyede said the commission had introduced a number of reforms, including new guidelines on arrest and bail and a review of sting operations.
It established the Department of Fraud Risk Assessment and Control, Security Department, Immigration and Visa Section and Cybercrime Rapid Response Centre.
The EFCC also commissioned directorates in Enugu and Ilorin and established new directorates in Ekiti, Anambra and Katsina states.
Other measures included policies on gifts and hospitality, conflict of interest and exhibit-room security.
The Internal Affairs Department was renamed and restructured as the Ethics and Integrity Department, while almost 60 per cent of the commission’s processes and operations had been digitalised, he said.
Olukoyede said the EFCC was also investing in technology, including a new academy and the 24/7 Cybercrime Rapid Response Centre, known as E-C2R2.
The commission has also established EFCC Radio.
The next test: showing Nigerians the value of recovery
For the EFCC, the scale of the latest figures is undoubtedly significant.
But asset recovery is ultimately a means rather than an end.
The experience of Nigeria’s earlier recoveries shows that public confidence is strongest where recovered money is tied to clearly identified programmes and subjected to independent monitoring.
The World Bank, for instance, has documented arrangements in which returned Nigerian assets were subjected to monitoring, auditing and civil-society oversight, while the NSIA has published financial updates on the use of recovered Abacha funds for infrastructure.
The present recovery figures therefore invite an accountability conversation.
If N1.23 trillion and $684.5 million have been recovered, Nigerians deserve to know not only how the money was recovered but what happened next.
How much has reached the Consolidated Revenue Fund?
How much has gone to victims?
How much has been distributed to ministries, departments, agencies and state governments?
How much remains subject to court proceedings?
How much has been converted from properties and other assets into cash?
What projects or social programmes have been financed?
Who independently verifies the figures?
And, most importantly, can an ordinary Nigerian trace a recovered naira from the moment it is forfeited to the moment it produces a road, a school, a student loan, healthcare, compensation or another measurable public benefit?
Those questions are likely to become increasingly important as the EFCC expands its recovery operations.
Olukoyede said the commission’s ultimate objective was to ensure that intelligence translated into prevention, petitions into investigations, investigations into prosecutions, prosecutions into convictions and recoveries into restitution.
“We have made significant progress, but the work is not finished. It continues with renewed determination,” he said.
The next chapter of Nigeria’s asset-recovery story may therefore be judged less by the size of the figures announced at press briefings and more by the transparency of what happens to the money afterwards.