The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, has warned that focusing Nigeria’s anti-corruption efforts on enforcement and prosecution will not yield the desired results.
Speaking during a meeting with the National Orientation Agency (NOA) management team, led by its Director-General, Lanre Issa Onilu, at the EFCC headquarters in Abuja, Olukoyede emphasised the need for prevention over punishment.
“Upon my assumption of office, I made it known to Nigerians that one of the key areas that we will pursue seriously and vigorously is the area of prevention. Everything in the anti-corruption fight is not about enforcement,” Olukoyede explained.
He highlighted that Nigeria’s 20-year focus on enforcement has failed to reduce corruption.
“It is not all about throwing bombs and chasing people with armoured vehicles and machine guns. No, it has never worked, and it will never work. We have been on the path of enforcement for 20 years now. Would anyone tell me that corruption is abating?” he asked.
Olukoyede argued that despite convictions and asset recoveries, corruption has only deepened, with criminals becoming more sophisticated. “The more you do, the more progress you make in the area of recovery, in the area of prosecution and conviction of people, the deeper the problem becomes. As you are facing one, people are inventing new areas and getting smarter by the day.”
The EFCC boss believes that Nigeria’s fight against corruption is undermined by a long-standing erosion of values and systemic failures.
“There is actually nothing fundamentally wrong with our people, but that our values have been bastardised over the years and also the system that we run,” he stated underscoring, the agency’s shift toward preventive measures.
To support this new approach, Olukoyede said he has ramped up anti-corruption education and is creating institutional structures to prevent financial crimes before they occur.
The aim is to shift the EFCC’s role from reacting after money is stolen to stopping it from being stolen in the first place.
