By Peter Onyekachukwu 
By Peter Onyekachukwu
The Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, has sounded a stark warning: Nigeria’s future is at risk if the culture of financial opacity and weak oversight—especially in the oil and gas sector—is not urgently reversed.
Speaking through the agency’s Director of Public Affairs, Wilson Uwujaren, at a national conference on Public Accounts and Fiscal Governance in Abuja, Olukoyede decried what he described as a “dangerous culture of speculative earnings, budget padding, and payroll fraud” that continues to sap the country’s economic lifeblood.
“Public confidence is evaporating,” he warned. “The lack of transparency, particularly in oil and gas earnings, and the manipulation of systems like IPPIS and GIFMIS, have turned public service into a playground for fraud. It’s one of the most disturbing vulnerabilities in our system.”
In human terms, these loopholes mean that schools go unfunded, health centres remain ill-equipped, and young Nigerians are denied opportunities—despite government budgets claiming otherwise.
For Mr. Olukoyede, it’s no longer enough to arrest and prosecute after the fact. The EFCC, he said, is moving towards prevention—introducing internal audits, risk assessments, and collaborations with both local and foreign partners to seal off fiscal drainpipes in ministries, departments, and agencies.
The commission has launched a Fraud Risk Assessment and Control Department, designed specifically to detect and shut down weak points before funds are misappropriated.
“These are not just paper reforms. In the last 18 months, trillions of naira have been recovered and redirected into initiatives like the Nigerian Education Loan Fund and the new Consumer Credit Scheme,” he said.
A major highlight of these recoveries is what the EFCC describes as the largest real estate asset seizure in Nigeria’s history—a massive 750 duplexes in Abuja, which are now being converted into affordable housing for low-income earners through a partnership with the Federal Ministry of Housing.
Despite these strides, Olukoyede emphasized that corruption is still deeply entrenched and must be fought from all sides—including the legislature. He revealed a glaring gap in the current accountability framework: the EFCC has not received a single oversight report from the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee for investigation.
“Parliament cannot demand accountability if it doesn’t practice it,” he said bluntly. “We need the National Assembly to send a strong message—one that tells Nigerians fiscal oversight is not a routine or toothless exercise. Collaboration between PAC and EFCC is critical.”
Calling for real-time digital tracking of budgets, stronger whistleblowing protections, and integrity testing for public officers, Olukoyede stressed that sustainable governance must go beyond rhetoric.
“Let’s build a national culture where accountability is seen as a patriotic duty. Our systems must be built around transparency, enforcement, and public involvement—because it’s only when Nigerians see real value in governance that trust can be restored,” he concluded.
For a country seeking to shake off decades of corruption and inefficiency, the message from the EFCC is clear: integrity must not only be demanded—it must be delivered.