By Ozegbe Ogokuni 

Common to corruption are bribery, embezzlement, fraud, money laundering and extortion, which occurs when gain or an advantage is acquired by persons in positions of trust through dishonest, unfair or sordid schemes. Corruption by whatever means is destructive to people and their governance institutions, especially if such are financial and economic crimes.

Graft, is said to be the worst form of corruption because it undermines institutional and process integrities. It wrecks the sanity of systems and overthrows the foundations of a fair and just society driven by law and order, and ultimately turning society on its head into a jungle where might, whether financial or physical, reign supreme.

This is the danger that the Economic And Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment) Act of 2002 (renewed, 2004), was designed to curb or possibly eliminate.

The Act commissions the Economic And Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to combat economic and financial crimes through preventing, investigating, prosecuting and penalizing economic and financial crimes. Indeed, such crimes are the non-violent criminal and illicit activities committed by individuals or organized groups, with the objective of illegally cornering wealth, which violates existing laws, such as the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 as amended; the Advance Fee Fraud (and other fraud-Related Offences) Act, 2006; the Failed Banks (Recovery of Debts) and Financial Malpractices in Banks ACT, 1994 as amended; the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act, 2020; Miscellaneous Offences Act, 1983; and other relevant provisions of the Criminal, and Penal Codes, etc.

In mobilising into action, the EFCC envisioned a Nigeria that is free of economic and financial crimes, and undertook the mission of eradicating economic and financial crimes through preventive, enforcement and coordinating operations. The Commission in its eagle-eyed vision of accomplishing its mission, has brought upon its activities, the core values of integrity, professionalism, courage, and collaboration, the enforcement of which have long been weaved into some sets of Strategic Plans, the current being the 2021 – 2025 Strategic Plan, which has the strategic objectives of increasing public engagement in the fight against economic and financial crimes; improving systems and processes for the prevention of economic and financial crimes; improving intelligence-driven investigation, prosecution, and asset recovery and management; improving law enforcement coordination and collaboration with relevant stakeholders; and enhancing institutional capacity and human capital development. It is important to point out that these strategic objectives perfectly align with the ‘National Anti- Corruption Strategy’ (NACS).

From Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, the pioneer Executive Chairman (2003 – 2007) to Mrs Farida Waziri, Executive Chairman (2008 – 2011); Ibrahim Lamorde, Executive Chairman (2012 – 2015); Ibrahim Magu, Acting Chairman (2015 – 2020); Mohammed Umar Abba, Acting Chairman (2020 – 2021); Abdulrasheed Bawa, Executive Chairman (2021 – 2023); and to Abdulkarim Chukkol, Acting Chairman (2023), the Commission carved out a niche in the psyche of political office holders in Nigeria as a financial and economic crimes investigation and prosecution Agency to be dreaded.

Then came Mr Ola Olukoyede, the incumbent Executive Chairman of the Commission, who as a game-changer has tirelessly upscaled and expanded the operations of the Agency, and transformed the fortunes of the Commission into a more-dreaded and top-notch financial and economic crimes-bursting Organisation with numerous global recognitions and commendations. It is very remarkable that the widely acclaimed achievements of the EFCC under Mr Ola Olukoyede are happening within a short period of less than a year of his engagement. A recent public appraisal of certain parameters of the EFCC’s operations affirmed the unprecedented and innovative achievements of the Commission under Olukoyede, who has come to be popularly known as the Graft Tamer, owing to his fervent and innovative taming of graft.

Asset Recovery

Records in the public domain show that within one year of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Administration, the EFCC has recorded 3125 convictions, thereby recovering over N231.6billion, and various huge sums in foreign currencies such as over $70m; £29,000; €208,000; ¥754,000; R35,000, amongst others. These recoveries appear unprecedented at any comparative operational period of the Commission, and together with subsequent hauls, are the result of investigations conducted into 12,287 cases from the 15,753 petitions received by the Commission, leading to 5,376 prosecutions, and the securing of 3,451 convictions.

Offensive Against Cybercrimes

It is common knowledge that no week passes without reports of the Commission swooping on and arresting hundreds of cyber scammers all over the Country, most of whom end up being convicts and surrenderers of assets that were fraudulently obtained. This has been unprecedented and gradually restoring the confidence of the international community in Nigeria.