The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) says it recovered N1.23 trillion and hundreds of millions of dollars in proceeds of crime under Chairman Ola Olukoyede, but the scale of the recoveries has also renewed questions over how seized and forfeited assets are tracked, valued, disposed of and ultimately returned to beneficiaries.
Olukoyede disclosed on August 31, 2026, that the commission recovered N1,233,612,040,411.11, $684,478,457.32, £373,905.78 and €9,343,803.66 between October 1, 2023, and June 30, 2026. The PUNCH reported the figures on August 31, 2026, following Olukoyede’s stewardship briefing in Abuja.
According to the EFCC chairman, N397.26 billion, representing about 33 per cent of the naira recovery, was recovered directly for the Federal Government, while N836.34 billion, or 67 per cent, was recovered on behalf of ministries, departments and agencies, state revenue services, companies, individuals and foreign victims.
Vanguard reported on August 31, 2026, that the EFCC had released N661.32 billion and $492.37 million to beneficiaries during the period. The releases included N325.35 billion paid directly to individuals and corporate bodies and N335.97 billion released to government agencies, revenue services and other public institutions.
The commission also reported 10,872 convictions from 14,476 cases filed between October 2023 and July 2026. The PUNCH reported on September 1, 2026, that the figures represented a 75.1 per cent conviction-to-filing ratio. The EFCC said it had received 49,673 petitions and investigated 39,615 cases during the period.
Beyond monetary recoveries, Olukoyede said the commission secured interim and final forfeiture orders covering 10,053 tangible assets. Vanguard reported on August 31, 2026, that these included 8,198 electronic items, 1,177 real estate properties, 370 automobiles and 251 plots of land, as well as other assets such as schools, factories, hotels, shops, oil rigs, barges, machinery and aircraft.
The EFCC also said proceeds from the disposal of assets under final forfeiture orders amounted to approximately N12.07 billion and were paid to the Federal Government, according to Vanguard’s August 31, 2026 report.
The commission has highlighted several instances where recovered proceeds and assets were deployed for public purposes. Olukoyede said N50 billion each was allocated from recovered funds to the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) and the Nigerian Consumer Credit Corporation in 2024, with another N50 billion each approved for the two institutions in 2026.
The EFCC also cited the conversion of NOK University in Kachia, Kaduna State, into the Federal University of Applied Sciences, Kachia, as an example of a forfeited asset being put to public use.
The recovery figures, however, have emerged amid wider concerns about the management of recovered assets in Nigeria.
On July 22, 2026, The PUNCH reported that the House of Representatives called for a comprehensive audit of all assets seized, forfeited, recovered, managed, disposed of or repatriated by government institutions since 1999. The lawmakers raised concerns over the absence of a centralised asset register and weak oversight mechanisms for recovered assets.
The issue goes beyond the EFCC’s current figures. CISLAC said in November 2024 that Nigeria had recovered more than $5 billion in stolen assets over 25 years and called for stronger accountability in the management of recovered proceeds. The organisation also raised concerns about the possibility of recovered assets being lost or mismanaged.
The EFCC has rejected suggestions that recovered funds are being re-looted. In November 2024, the commission said recovered funds were remitted to the Federal Government, according to The PUNCH.
The disposal of forfeited vehicles has provided another test of the recovery process. Vanguard reported on July 27, 2026, that the Nigeria Association of Auctioneers questioned the EFCC’s electronic auction of forfeited vehicles, arguing that the commission’s involvement in investigation, custody and disposal could raise transparency concerns.
The EFCC, however, maintained that the auction was being conducted in accordance with the EFCC Act, the Public Procurement Act and the Proceeds of Crime (Recovery and Management) Act, 2022, Vanguard reported.
The figures therefore show the scale of the EFCC’s enforcement and recovery activities, but they do not by themselves resolve questions about what happens to recovered assets after seizure or forfeiture.
The House of Representatives’ call for an audit, concerns over the absence of a centralised asset register and the disagreement over the disposal of forfeited vehicles all point to the same accountability question: whether the public can independently trace recovered assets from seizure and valuation through custody, disposal, remittance and final use.
For the EFCC, the N1.23 trillion recovery figure represents the scale of its enforcement activities under Olukoyede. For the public, however, the longer-term measure of asset recovery is how transparently those funds and assets can be accounted for after they are recovered.
