By Disun Amosun
Chairman Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, on Wednesday called on the National Assembly to urgently pass a law criminalizing unexplained wealth.
He said Nigeria cannot win the anti-corruption war without legal backing to hold public officers accountable for assets far beyond their legitimate earnings, adding that the onus now lies on the Legislature to quickly cone up with such laws
Olukayode, in an Address at the Day-3 National Conference on Public Accounts and Fiscal Governance organized by the Public Accounts Committees of the Senate and House of Representatives in Abuja, described the magnitude of public sector corruption as disturbing.
He said the Agency, having only just begun examining the books of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, what had emerged so far was mind-boggling, yet only a fraction of the rot.
“In the last three weeks, we started a commission-wide investigation into the extractive industry, particularly the oil and gas sector. What we have discovered is mind-boggling
The EFCC Chairman said this discovery underscores how deeply embedded fiscal mis governance is across the system, calling fiscal rascality and mismanagement of public resources a core driver of Nigeria’s economic woes and security challenge
Olukoyede, who previously served as Secretary to the EFCC before his confirmation as Chairman, lamented the legal bottlenecks hindering the Commission’s ability to prosecute suspicious cases.
He recounted how investigations into public officers often stall because the law still requires a “predicate offence” — a specific crime such as theft or fraud — before assets can be seized or charges filed.
