The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has dismissed more than 40 of its personnel over alleged corruption and financial malpractice in the past two and a half years, Chairman Ola Olukoyede has disclosed.
Olukoyede made the disclosure in Abuja on Monday during an engagement with media executives and journalists, where he said more than five of the dismissed personnel were currently facing prosecution, while case files involving others were being prepared for legal action.
The EFCC chairman said the disciplinary measures formed part of efforts to ensure that officers of the anti corruption agency maintained the highest standards of integrity while investigating and prosecuting corruption cases.
“In the past two and a half years or three years of my service, I have asked them to dismiss over 40 staff on account of corruption and financial malpractice. More than five of them are being prosecuted at the moment. You can follow those cases in court; they are public knowledge,” Olukoyede said.
He said the commission had also introduced additional safeguards to strengthen accountability among its personnel, including a new gift policy regulating the acceptance and declaration of gifts received by EFCC officers. Personnel would also be required to declare assets above a specified threshold, including gifts received from relatives abroad.
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Olukoyede warned that officers entrusted with fighting corruption could not credibly perform that responsibility while engaging in corrupt practices themselves. He said the former Department of Internal Affairs had consequently been renamed the Department of Ethics and Integrity to reinforce the commission’s internal accountability mechanisms.
The EFCC boss also disclosed that the commission had recovered N1.23tn, $684.48m, £373,905.78 and €9.34m between October 1, 2023 and June 30, 2026. He said N397.26bn, representing 33 per cent of the naira recoveries, constituted direct recoveries for the Federal Government, while N836.34bn was recovered indirectly on behalf of ministries, departments and agencies, state revenue services, companies, individuals and foreign victims.
He added that N661.32bn and $492.37m had been released to beneficiaries during the period. The naira releases included N325.35bn paid directly to individuals and corporate bodies, while N335.97bn went to MDAs, the Nigerian Revenue Service and state internal revenue services, among others.
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Olukoyede further disclosed that the commission’s enforcement activities had contributed about N288.1bn in federal and state tax recoveries, comprising N173.2bn in federal tax recoveries and N114.9bn attributed to state internal revenue services.
He said approximately N257.2bn had also been recovered for federal ministries, departments and agencies, stressing that the tax recoveries represented enforcement of existing obligations rather than the introduction of new taxes.
The disclosure places the EFCC’s internal disciplinary drive alongside a broader recovery campaign, as the commission seeks to demonstrate that its anti corruption mandate applies not only to suspects outside the agency but also to its own personnel.
