The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, has defended the agency’s decision to temporarily freeze suspicious accounts, saying the commission is increasingly moving towards preventing financial crimes before public funds are completely diverted.
Olukoyede said the EFCC recently froze an account for 72 hours after detecting suspicious movement of funds from a local government account to a company. He added that investigators subsequently discovered that some of the money had been transferred into cryptocurrency wallets.
“When we see money moving suspiciously, we move in and freeze it in the interim,” Olukoyede said, while responding to criticism and calls for his removal over the agency’s actions.
He explained that the transaction raised questions about why public funds were being transferred to private entities and subsequently moved into cryptocurrency wallets.
According to him, the development highlights the need for law enforcement agencies to intervene before public funds are completely stolen rather than waiting until after the crime has been committed.
“Why must we be waiting for money to be stolen? Why can’t we change the narrative?” he asked.
The EFCC chairman’s comments came against the backdrop of public controversy earlier in August after the commission froze an account belonging to the Osun State Government shortly before the state’s governorship election. However, Olukoyede did not link the transaction he cited to Osun State or any specific state.
He also warned that cybercrime in Nigeria had evolved beyond the traditional “Yahoo Yahoo” narrative, alleging that some young people were being used by public officials to move illicit funds through cryptocurrency wallets.
“Some of the people you are calling Yahoo, see your young children; they are stealing on behalf of London, on behalf of public servants,” he said.
Olukoyede disclosed that the EFCC now has the capacity to trace cryptocurrency wallets, particularly those connected to virtual asset platforms registered in Nigeria. He said about 40 virtual asset platforms had been licensed as part of efforts to strengthen regulation and oversight of the sector.
The EFCC boss further disclosed that the commission had recovered virtual assets linked to the CBEX fraud but noted that managing confiscated cryptocurrencies had previously posed accountability challenges.
He said the Federal Government had now approved the establishment of a national confiscation wallet where virtual assets recovered by law enforcement agencies would be kept.
“Today, now we have a national confiscation wallet. So if I confiscate virtual assets now, it’s a national wallet that we put into those,” he said.
Olukoyede also disclosed that the commission’s anti-corruption efforts had contributed to revenue mobilisation, with about N288.1 billion recovered in federal and state tax revenues over the period under review.
He said the figure comprised approximately N173.2 billion in federal tax recoveries and N114.9 billion attributed to State Internal Revenue Services.
The EFCC chairman added that more than 40 personnel had been dismissed from the commission over alleged corruption and financial malpractice in the past two-and-a-half to three years.
According to him, some of the dismissed officers are already facing prosecution, while case files involving others are being prepared for prosecution.