EFCC reward stolen assets of between 2.5 and 5 per cent will go to whistleblowers who help recover Nigerian funds held overseas, Olukoyede says

The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ola Olukoyede, has offered whistleblowers a reward of between 2.5 and 5 per cent of the value of any recovered stolen Nigerian assets held abroad.

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Olukoyede made the announcement on Wednesday, 26 August 2026, while delivering a lecture at the Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime in the United Kingdom.

He stressed the importance of protecting and incentivising whistleblowers. “If any of you is privy to where a Nigerian asset is stolen or taken to anywhere in the world, we have an incentive for you. Between 2.5 and 5 per cent is going to go back to you upon recovery,” he told participants.

The EFCC chairman said the agency’s success in securing non-conviction-based forfeiture orders depends on the ability of its operatives to trace assets, cooperation from the judiciary and access to credible intelligence. He added that the commission has some of the best investigators in the world.

Olukoyede revealed that in the three years since he assumed office the EFCC has forfeited cash and assets worth more than 500 million dollars to the Federal Government.

He cited several high-profile cases. These included the forfeiture of an aircraft linked to an individual alleged to have taken a 30 million dollar bribe on a power project. The aircraft has since been added to the presidential air fleet.

The agency also forfeited a property containing about 753 housing units connected to a former Central Bank of Nigeria governor, against whom criminal charges are pending in three courts.

In another case involving the immediate past Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, the EFCC traced about 57 properties and has so far forfeited 48 of them after investigations into alleged abuse of office.

Olukoyede explained that the commission is empowered under Nigerian law to apply to the High Court for the forfeiture of suspected proceeds of crime, a process similar to those used in Australia and Canada.

Applications can be made on an ex parte basis where there is probable suspicion.

He also referred to a private university linked to a director in the Federal Ministry of Health that was forfeited after the official voluntarily surrendered the property following the commission’s investigation.

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The reward offer forms part of wider efforts to recover stolen public assets and encourage citizens to provide actionable information.