More than 40 employees of Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission have been dismissed for alleged corruption and financial misconduct, the commission's chairman said. Ola Olukoyede made the disclosure at a briefing in Abuja reviewing the EFCC's record since he took office in October 2023.
Olukoyede said more than five of those dismissed were already facing prosecution and that case files were being prepared against others. He framed the personnel actions as part of a broader effort to clean up the agency's own ranks: "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," he told journalists.
As part of internal reforms, the agency renamed its Department of Internal Affairs the Department of Ethics and Integrity and introduced a gifts and hospitality policy to reduce conflicts of interest. The policy requires officers to declare gifts above a threshold the chairman did not specify, including items received from relatives abroad. Olukoyede said of staff discipline, "You must be sure that your hands are clean. You can't be fighting corruption when your hands are soiled with corrupt practices."
The EFCC also presented its enforcement numbers for the period since Olukoyede assumed leadership. The commission says it recovered ₦1.23 trillion ($925m, £683m) and recorded a conviction rate of more than 75%. Between October 2023 and July 2026 the EFCC received 49,673 petitions, investigated 39,615 cases, filed 14,476 cases in court and secured 10,872 convictions. In the first half of 2026 alone the agency recorded 1,370 convictions from 1,889 filings.
Olukoyede described the period as record-breaking and tied the figures to a prosecutorial approach focused on courtroom outcomes, saying, "These results reflect diligence, resilience and a prosecutorial approach anchored on evidence and courtroom outcomes." He also noted the commission's caseload is shifting toward cybercrime and fraud rather than exclusively targeting high-profile corruption cases.
The EFCC declined to provide further detail on the alleged offences by its former staff when asked. With prosecutions already under way for some dismissed employees and case files being prepared for others, the agency is moving its internal accountability into the courts while continuing the reforms it says will reduce conflicts of interest inside its ranks.
