The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ola Olukoyede, has said anti-corruption agencies face severe limitations in recovering funds stolen through financial crimes, particularly when the money has been moved abroad.
Olukoyede made the disclosure while highlighting the difficulty of recovering illicit assets after they have been concealed or transferred across multiple jurisdictions.
The EFCC chairman said no amount of institutional capacity or investigative effort could guarantee the recovery of even half of funds stolen from Nigeria in some cases, particularly where foreign jurisdictions are reluctant to release assets.
“There is no amount of capacity I can build, no level of effort I can put in, that will enable me to recover even half of what has been stolen from Nigeria,” Olukoyede said, according to The Guardian.
He said the challenge was particularly serious where stolen assets were held by custodians in foreign countries, making international cooperation critical to the recovery process.
Olukoyede said the EFCC had been tracking illicit Nigerian assets across several countries and had intensified efforts to secure their return.
The chairman also stressed the need for stronger preventive measures, arguing that Nigeria could not rely solely on investigations, prosecutions and asset recovery after financial crimes had already occurred.
He called for stronger internal compliance and control systems across government institutions to identify and prevent financial diversion before public funds are stolen.
The EFCC has continued to combine enforcement with asset recovery and institutional reforms under Olukoyede. In a stewardship report presented on August 31, 2026, the commission said it recovered ₦1.233 trillion between October 2023 and June 30, 2026, alongside $684.48 million, £373,905.78 and €9.34 million.
The commission also said it secured the forfeiture of 10,053 tangible assets between October 2023 and July 2026, including real estate, vehicles, electronic items, land and other properties.
Olukoyede said the focus of the commission must ultimately extend beyond recovering stolen funds to preventing financial crimes and ensuring recovered assets are returned to their rightful beneficiaries.
The EFCC said it had released ₦661.32 billion and $492.37 million to beneficiaries during the period covered by the stewardship report.
