Olukoyede to n’assembly: Pass unexplained wealth bill… citizens must account for their assets

Ola Olukoyede, chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), says he has repeatedly appealed to lawmakers to pass the bill seeking to criminalise unexplained wealth.

Olukoyede spoke in Abuja on Wednesday during the national conference on public accounts and fiscal governance, themed ‘Fiscal Governance in Nigeria: Charting a New Course for Transparency and Sustainable Development.’

The bill aims to empower anti-graft agencies to investigate and prosecute individuals whose assets exceed their known legitimate income, combat illicit enrichment, and curb corruption.

Olukoyede said the proposed legislation was thrown out in the last assembly, noting that the country needs a law to curb unexplained wealth to fight corruption effectively.

The EFCC chairman said the findings from a recent investigation of the oil and gas sector have been mind-boggling.

“In the last three weeks, we started a commission-wide investigation into the extractive industry, particularly the oil and gas sector. What we have discovered is mind-boggling,” he said.

“And we have only just opened the books. So much more corruption is to be unravelled. Imagine what lies beneath if this is what we see at the surface. It is just the peripheral. We are just starting.

“There is a very strong connection between the mismanagement of our resources and insecurity.

“When you look at banditry, kidnapping, and terrorism, trace it back, and you will find a pattern of corrupt practices and diversion of funds that were meant to improve people’s lives.

“Help me pass the unexplained wealth bill. I have been begging for the past one year. This same bill was thrown out in the last assembly. If we don’t make individuals accountable for what they have, we will never get it right.

“Someone has worked in a ministry for 20 years. We calculate the entire salary and allowances. Then we find five properties—two in Maitama and three in Asokoro. Yet we’re told to go and prove a predicate offence before we can act. That is absurd.

“Once you are living beyond your means, you should be held accountable. Until we do this, there will always be an escape route for the corrupt.

Olukoyede said even his best efforts would not be enough to recover half of the wealth looted from Nigeria.

“Last month alone, I visited four or five countries chasing Nigeria’s stolen assets. An ambassador even told me they discovered an estate in Iceland owned by a Nigerian. Iceland of all places,” he said.

“There is no amount of capacity I can build. No level of effort I can put in will enable me to recover even half of what has been stolen from Nigeria because the custodians of those assets in foreign countries don’t want to let go. And they won’t.”

The EFCC chairman criticised foreign countries for making the recovery of stolen wealth difficult.

“I told them at the United Nations forum last December that if you are holding onto Nigeria’s stolen assets, we see you as an accessory after the fact. They grumbled, but I didn’t care,” he said.

“We are doing this work. We see people who have stolen our money. We have shown you evidence. We have traced where the money went. We are already in court. Yet, they’re being celebrated all over the place. Does that show we are serious?

He said Nigeria has no business borrowing money if it can stamp out corruption to the barest minimum, noting that the country needs transparency in revenue generation and accountability in public expenditure.