The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has revealed how public funds were moved from a local government account to a private company before being converted into cryptocurrency.
EFCC Chairman Ola Olukoyede disclosed this on Monday while addressing media executives and journalists in Abuja, stressing that the commission could not turn a blind eye to the suspicious movement of public funds.
Olukoyede did not, however, name the local government, company or state involved in the transaction.
He said the commission’s Fraud Risk Assessment and Control Department had detected the suspicious transactions and stepped in by freezing the funds for 72 hours to determine their destination and purpose.
The EFCC boss also expressed displeasure at criticism directed at him over the action taken by his agency.
“When we see money moving suspiciously, we move in and freeze it in the interim. I know some of you are calling for my head. The account was frozen for 72 hours. Okay, come and show where this money is going? Why are you moving money? We saw money being moved from the local government account to a company. Apart from that phase, we discovered that the money has gone into cryptocurrency wallets.
“Is that the road to build? Is that the power to generate cryptocurrency wallets for your people? Are you asking me to close my eyes and not do something like that? Then you don’t need me in this office,” he said.
Olukoyede said the episode highlighted the need for law enforcement agencies to move away from waiting for public funds to be stolen before acting, and instead focus on intercepting suspicious transactions before they are completed.
“Why must we be waiting for money to be stolen? Why can’t we change the narrative? And that’s the main thing we need to bring to the office,” he said.
The disclosure comes weeks after public outcry over the EFCC’s freezing of an account belonging to the Osun State Government, just days ahead of the August 15 governorship election. Olukoyede, however, did not link the transaction he described to Osun State or any other specific state.
Crypto Wallets Now a Tool for Concealing Stolen Funds
Olukoyede said cybercrime in Nigeria had evolved well beyond the traditional “Yahoo Yahoo” stereotype, noting that some young people were now being used as fronts by public officials to funnel allegedly stolen funds through cryptocurrency wallets.
“We have gotten to a stage in Nigeria now that public officials steal money and they put it in cryptocurrency wallets. Most of the directors we are investigating now, you can’t trace tangible assets to them. They steal this money, give it to students, give it to young people. They open cryptocurrency wallets all over the world. They plunder the money there within 24 hours.
“The money moves abroad. They buy a house anywhere in the world, buy luxury items. Those are the recent trends,” he said.
The EFCC chairman disclosed that the commission had developed the capacity to trace cryptocurrency wallets, particularly those linked to virtual asset platforms registered in Nigeria. He said about 40 virtual asset platforms had been licensed following regulatory measures introduced to strengthen oversight of the sector.
“Now we also have the capacity to trace cryptocurrency wallets now, at least with those that are registered in Nigeria, and we are doing that,” he said.
National Confiscation Wallet Established
Highlighting the commission’s achievements over the past three years, Olukoyede said the EFCC had recovered virtual assets connected to the CBEX fraud, but noted that managing confiscated cryptocurrency had previously raised accountability concerns.
“When you recover virtual assets, where do you put them? No accountability. That’s why we can’t continue like this,” he said.
He disclosed that the Federal Government had since approved the creation of a national confiscation wallet, where virtual assets recovered by law enforcement agencies would now be stored. “Today, now we have a national confiscation wallet. So if I confiscate virtual assets now, it’s a national wallet that we put into those,” he said.
Olukoyede further warned that the growing use of cryptocurrency to move illicit funds called for stronger technological capacity across financial and law enforcement institutions.
“When we are talking about cybercrime, please cooperate with us, understand the scope. Not just Yahoo. Some of the people you are calling Yahoo, see your young children; they are stealing on behalf of London, on behalf of public servants,” he said.
Revenue Recovery and Internal Discipline
Olukoyede said the commission’s anti-corruption efforts had also contributed significantly to revenue mobilisation, with federal and state tax recoveries totalling about N288.1bn during the period under review. He said this comprised roughly N173.2bn in federal tax recoveries and N114.9bn attributed to State Internal Revenue Services.
He also disclosed that more than 40 EFCC personnel had been dismissed over alleged corruption and financial malpractice in the past two and a half to three years, adding that some of the dismissed officials were already facing prosecution, while case files involving others were being prepared for prosecution.
