Olukoyede Rejects Single Agency For Recovered Assets, Cites UK, South Africa Failures

EFCC Chairman Ola Olukoyede has dismissed calls for a single agency to manage all government-recovered assets, saying the scale of recoveries nationwide makes such an arrangement impractical. He made the remarks in a post on his X account on Tuesday, describing his position as based on practical experience rather than commentary, having served as EFCC Secretary and managed assets for years.

Olukoyede argued that similar centralised models had failed elsewhere, noting that the UK’s attempt cost over £34 million before folding within a year, while South Africa’s version lasted sixteen months. He also cited the collapse of AMCON, which he said cost the government over ₦5 trillion, and pointed out that more than 20 statutory agencies, including the Police with divisions across nearly every local government, currently recover assets.

The EFCC chairman said the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) already provides the right framework by holding each recovering agency accountable for its own assets, a model he called the most effective globally alongside Section 31 of the EFCC Act. He pledged that the commission would continue publishing its recoveries within 24 hours and submitting annual reports to the National Assembly on schedule, vowing that “not a pin nor a penny” of recovered assets would be mismanaged under his watch.

At an Abuja briefing last week, Olukoyede disclosed that the EFCC had secured forfeiture orders covering 10,053 tangible assets under his leadership, including real estate, vehicles, aircraft, oil rigs and 102 tonnes of solid minerals. He said disposal proceeds of about ₦12.07bn had been paid to the Federal Government, while total recoveries between October 2023 and June 2026 stood at over ₦1.23tn, $684.48m, £373,905.78 and €9.34m, with ₦661.32bn and $492.37m released to beneficiaries.