CHAIRMAN of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, has described the scale of corruption uncovered at the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) as “mind-boggling,” revealing that a sweeping investigation into Nigeria’s oil and gas sector has already exposed significant financial misconduct despite being in its early stages.
Speaking on the third day of the National Conference on Public Accounts and Fiscal Governance, organized by the Senate and House of Representatives Public Accounts Committees, Olukoyede said the EFCC’s recent deep-dive into the extractive industries has only scratched the surface, yet already reveals a troubling picture.
“In the last three weeks, we launched a commission-wide investigation into the extractive industry, particularly oil and gas. What we have discovered is mind-boggling,” Olukoyede told lawmakers.
“And we have only just opened the books. If this is what we’re seeing at the surface, imagine what lies beneath.”
His remarks come just months after President Bola Tinubu replaced Mele Kyari as NNPCL Group Chief Executive Officer with Bashir Ojulari, amid growing pressure to sanitize Nigeria’s oil industry.
Olukoyede warned that the corruption deeply entrenched in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector is not just an economic crisis, but a direct driver of the country’s worsening insecurity and poverty levels.
He argued that the mismanagement of public funds fuels the very criminal enterprises such as terrorism, banditry, and kidnapping that threaten Nigeria’s stability.
“There is a very strong connection between the mismanagement of our resources and insecurity,” he said.
“When you look at banditry, kidnapping, terrorism—trace it back, and you will find a pattern of corrupt practices and diversion of funds meant to improve people’s lives.”
He lamented a culture where stolen public funds are quietly funneled abroad and where public servants with suspicious wealth are celebrated rather than investigated.
In a pointed appeal to lawmakers, Olukoyede urged the National Assembly to pass the long-stalled Unexplained Wealth Bill, which would empower law enforcement agencies to prosecute individuals who possess assets grossly out of step with their lawful income.
“Help me pass the Unexplained Wealth Bill. I’ve been begging for the past year,” he said.
“How do you explain someone working 20 years in a ministry, yet owning five luxury properties in Maitama and Asokoro? We’re still told to go and prove a predicate offence. That is absurd.”
The EFCC chairman also provided startling updates on international asset recovery efforts. He disclosed that the Commission is currently tracking stolen Nigerian wealth hidden in jurisdictions as far-flung as the United States, Turkey, and Iceland.
“Just last month, I visited four or five countries chasing stolen assets. An ambassador even told me they discovered an estate in Iceland owned by a Nigerian. Iceland of all places!” Olukoyede revealed.
However, he was frank about the limits of such efforts. Despite intensified international cooperation, he said foreign governments often act as complicit custodians of looted funds, citing their reluctance to repatriate assets back to Nigeria.
“Under international law, the custodian of stolen assets is just as guilty as the original thief,” he declared.
He stressed that no anti-corruption agency—no matter how strong—can recover more than half of what has been stolen, due to the sophistication of financial crimes and international protection of wealth.
Olukoyede decried what he described as widespread impunity in public service, noting that over 700 federal ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) continue to operate without basic financial controls.
He questioned the National Assembly’s ability to properly supervise such a vast and unregulated system, calling instead for internal mechanisms that prevent fraud before it happens.
“How many books can you check? How many files will you read? We need to build strong internal compliance systems that can proactively checkmate corruption,” he said.
Citing a confidential EFCC report presented during his Senate confirmation, Olukoyede said that 90 percent of looted public funds in a single year were smuggled out of the country, leaving little for domestic development.
“That money could have built hospitals, schools, and supported millions of Nigerian students from primary to tertiary level,” he said.
“Nigeria has no business borrowing to survive, given the natural and mineral wealth it possesses.”
Olukoyede concluded with a sobering warning: that Nigeria is at a critical crossroads, and the current administration may represent the country’s last realistic opportunity to decisively defeat corruption.
“If we execute even 60 percent of our capital budget efficiently between 2025 and 2026, we will empower small and medium-scale industries. We’ll build infrastructure. We’ll be fine,” he asserted.
“But what we need is transparency in revenue generation and accountability in public expenditure.”
He urged lawmakers and citizens to reject online misinformation and special interest interference, stating that the anti-corruption war is not about personal politics—but about the soul of the nation.
“This is about rescuing the soul of Nigeria,” he concluded.
“If we don’t act now united across political lines history will judge us harshly.”