By Abiola Olawale
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has recovered and forfeited cash and physical assets valued at over $500 million to the Federal Government of Nigeria.
The Executive Chairman of the EFCC, Ola Olukoyede, made the revelation while delivering a keynote presentation at the Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime in the United Kingdom.
Olukoyede highlighted that Nigeria’s legal framework permits civil, non-conviction-based asset forfeiture, a process similar to frameworks used in jurisdictions like Australia and Canada. This mechanism enables the commission to target suspected proceeds of crime directly through High Court applications without awaiting a full criminal trial verdict.
“Within three years of my assumption of office, we’ve been able to forfeit both cash and assets worth over half a billion dollars to the government,” he said.
The EFCC chairman said Nigeria’s legal framework, similar to that obtainable in countries such as Australia and Canada, allows the commission to seek forfeiture of assets suspected to be proceeds of crime without waiting for a criminal conviction.
“We have something similar to what is obtainable in Australia and Canada that empowers us to apply for the forfeiture of what is suspected to be proceeds of crime,” he said.
Olukoyede noted that the process of securing civil forfeiture begins with an application to the High Court.
“You apply ex parte to the high court upon a probable suspicion of the proceeds of crime,” he said.
He cited the recent forfeiture of an aircraft linked to a member of a monitoring committee for a power project in Nigeria.
According to Olukoyede, the individual allegedly collected a $30 million bribe, leading to the aircraft’s forfeiture.
“This aircraft was forfeited by someone who was supposed to be a member of the monitoring committee of a power project in Nigeria. We discovered he collected a bribe of about $30 million in Nigeria,” he said.
“He forfeited that about three months ago, and it has been added to the presidential air fleet at the moment.”
Olukoyede said the forfeiture was secured within two months of the commission’s application to the court.
He also disclosed that the commission had forfeited a property containing about 753 housing units from a former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
“That property contains about 753 housing units we forfeited from an erstwhile governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria. We have criminal charges against him in about three courts,” Olukoyede said.
He further cited an investigation involving Abubakar Malami, the immediate past attorney-general of Nigeria.
Olukoyede said the investigation, which began last year following what he described as reasonable suspicion of criminal abuse of office, led to the tracing of 57 properties allegedly linked to the former attorney-general.
“Sometimes last year, I opened investigations upon reasonable suspicion of criminal abuse of office by the immediate past attorney-general of Nigeria,” he said.
“We discovered that within eight years of his being in office, we were able to trace about 57 such properties to him. We’ve been able to forfeit about 48.”
The EFCC chairman also cited the forfeiture of a private university linked to a director in the Federal Ministry of Health.
He said the official voluntarily surrendered the property after the commission’s investigation.
