Stolen Assets: EFCC Offers Whistleblowers Up to 5% Reward

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has offered whistleblowers up to five per cent of recovered assets for actionable information leading to the recovery of Nigerian assets stashed abroad.

The Chairman of the anti-graft agency, Mr Ola Olukoyede, announced the incentive while delivering a lecture at the 43rd International Symposium on Economic Crime at Cambridge, United Kingdom.

Mr Olukoyede urged individuals with information on monetary and non-monetary assets allegedly stolen from Nigeria and kept outside the country to approach the Commission, promising financial rewards upon successful recovery.

“If any one of you is privy to where Nigerian assets are stolen or taken to anywhere in the world, we have an incentive for you; between 2.5 per cent and 5 per cent, it’s going to go back to you upon recovery,” he said.

The EFCC chairman said the incentive was designed to encourage people with credible intelligence to come forward, adding that some whistleblowers could potentially earn millions of dollars from successful asset recovery.

“That is an incentive we have put in place to encourage people to come forward to give information about stolen assets,” he added.

Mr Olukoyede also disclosed that the EFCC had recovered and secured the forfeiture of cash and assets worth more than $500 million to the Nigerian government since he assumed office.

“Within three years of my assumption of office, we’ve been able to forfeit both cash and assets worth over half a billion dollars to the government,” he said.

He attributed the recoveries to the professionalism of EFCC investigators, judicial support and access to credible intelligence.

Mr Olukoyede further highlighted Nigeria’s non-conviction-based asset forfeiture framework, which allows the Commission to seek…