The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has disclosed that while it has recorded significant successes in asset recovery and convictions, it is grappling with funding constraints and rising operational costs due to increasingly sophisticated financial crimes.

By Elizabeth Ugbo

EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, made this known on Wednesday in Abuja while speaking at the House Committee on EFCC 2025 Budget Appraisal and 2026 Budget Defence meeting, which also involved the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU). He said sustained collaboration with the National Assembly over the past two years had enhanced the commission’s performance and accountability.

Olukoyede informed the committee that the EFCC had already laid its 2024 annual report before the National Assembly and would submit its 2025 report by September.

He explained that the growing shift toward technology-driven and digital fraud had forced the commission to invest heavily in advanced forensic and digital investigative tools, a development that has significantly increased operational expenses.

Also briefing the committee, NFIU Director and Chief Executive Officer, Hafsat Bakare, highlighted Nigeria’s exit from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list and its removal from the European Union’s high-risk third-country list, attributing the achievements to coordinated national efforts involving the EFCC and other relevant agencies.

Earlier, Chairman of the House Committee on Financial Crimes, Hon. Ginger Onwusibe, described the budget appraisal session as crucial to Nigeria’s economic stability and anti-corruption drive, stressing that effective legislative oversight and adequate funding of anti-graft agencies were vital for national development.

Onwusibe added that the 10th House of Representatives, under the leadership of Speaker Tajudeen Abbas, remained committed to strengthening Nigeria’s legal and institutional framework against financial crimes through targeted legislative interventions.