Over 40 workers have been fired by Nigeria’s anti-graft agency, EFCC, for alleged financial malpractice and corruption during the previous three years.
Ola Olukoyede, the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), made the revelation during a function evaluating the organisation’s accomplishments since he assumed leadership in October 2023.
According to him, case files are being prepared against some of the terminated officials, and over five of them are already being prosecuted.
Financial crimes, including fraud, money laundering, and corruption, are investigated by the EFCC, which frequently pursues charges against public officials, lawmakers, businesspeople, and others who are suspected of squandering public funds.
“In the past two-and-a-half years or three years of my service, I’ve asked them to dismiss over 40 staff on account of corruption and financial malpractice,” Olukoyede told journalists at the briefing in the capital, Abuja.
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He went on to explain that as part of the reforms he had overseen at the agency, the EFCC’s Department of Internal Affairs had been renamed “the Department of Ethics and Integrity”.
To fight against conflicts of interest, a policy on gifts and hospitality had also been introduced.
It requires officers to declare gifts above a certain threshold – which he did not specify – including gifts received from relatives abroad.
“You must be sure that your hands are clean. You can’t be fighting corruption when your hands are soiled with corrupt practices,” Olukoyede said.
Olukoyede, 56, said he had overseen a record-breaking time for the EFCC, recovering 1.23 trillion naira ($925m, £683m), with a conviction rate of more than 75%.
“The commission received 49,673 petitions, investigated 39,615 cases, filed 14,476 cases in court and secured 10,872 convictions between October 2023 and July 2026,” he said.
The EFCC chairman stated that it had recorded 1,370 convictions from 1,889 filings in just the first half of 2026.
“These results reflect diligence, resilience and a prosecutorial approach anchored on evidence and courtroom outcomes.”
The EFCC’s caseload is increasingly concentrated on fraud and cybercrime rather than on corruption cases against prominent people, according to further data released at the event.
