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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is shifting from a largely reactive approach to financial crime enforcement to a more proactive strategy designed to detect suspicious transactions early, freeze funds within 72 hours and prevent illicit wealth from being moved into cryptocurrency wallets.
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EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, disclosed the new strategy on August 31, 2026, saying the commission is increasingly focusing on preventing the dissipation of suspected proceeds of crime rather than waiting for funds to be stolen before beginning investigations.
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At the centre of the new approach is the Fraud Risk Assessment and Control Department (FRAC), which the EFCC has established to monitor suspicious financial movements and intervene rapidly when transactions raise red flags.
“Why must we be waiting for money to be stolen? When we see money moving suspiciously, we move in and freeze. Pending 72 hours, we ask: where is this money going?” Olukoyede said.
EFCC Introduces 72-Hour Rapid-Freeze Strategy
Under the new framework, suspicious financial transactions can be subjected to an immediate intervention while investigators establish their destination and determine whether the funds are linked to criminal activity.
The 72-hour window is intended to give the EFCC time to assess suspicious movements before funds can be transferred beyond conventional financial channels or converted into difficult-to-recover digital assets.
The strategy reflects the increasing sophistication of financial crime, particularly the speed with which illicit funds can be moved through multiple accounts, converted into virtual assets and transferred across jurisdictions.
Olukoyede said the commission is therefore seeking to intervene much earlier in the transaction cycle.
Public Funds Increasingly Moved Into Crypto Wallets
The EFCC chairman raised concerns over what he described as a growing pattern involving public officials who allegedly use young Nigerians as fronts to move illicit funds into cryptocurrency wallets.
According to him, stolen public funds can be transferred through intermediaries and converted into digital assets within a matter of hours, making conventional asset recovery significantly more difficult.
He cited a case in which funds allegedly moved from a local government account to a private company before subsequently being transferred into cryptocurrency wallets.
Such cases, he said, demonstrate why law enforcement agencies must be able to identify suspicious financial flows before the money disappears into digital asset networks.
“At the press of a button, you can collapse the entire banking industry in Nigeria. Most of the data we are investigating now, you can’t trace tangible assets to them,” Olukoyede said.
EFCC Builds Capacity to Track Crypto Wallets
The commission is also strengthening its technical capabilities to trace virtual assets.
Olukoyede said approximately 40 virtual asset service providers (VASPs) have been licensed and registered under Nigeria’s regulatory framework, giving enforcement agencies a clearer point of access for tracking transactions involving regulated platforms.
The EFCC chairman said the commission has developed the capacity to trace cryptocurrency wallets associated with these registered virtual asset platforms.
The development represents an important shift in Nigeria’s financial crime investigations, as investigators increasingly confront cases in which traditional bank accounts and physical assets may no longer provide the complete trail of illicit funds.
National Confiscation Wallet Created for Seized Crypto Assets
Another major component of the new enforcement framework is the creation of a national confiscation wallet for cryptocurrencies and other virtual assets seized by the government.
Olukoyede said the arrangement received presidential approval and addresses a longstanding challenge faced by law enforcement agencies: determining how to securely hold confiscated digital assets.
“One of the problems we used to have was where do you put confiscated virtual assets. Today we have a national wallet that we put them into,” he said.
The development is intended to strengthen accountability around seized digital property while creating a formal mechanism for safeguarding cryptocurrency recovered during financial crime investigations.
CBEX Case Highlights Crypto Fraud Risks
The EFCC’s increased focus on cryptocurrency comes against the backdrop of major digital-asset-related investigations, including the prosecution of operators of the collapsed CBEX investment platform.
The commission has been tracing cryptocurrency transactions linked to the alleged fraud, with more than $46 million in stablecoin transactions reportedly under investigation.
The CBEX case illustrates the challenges facing regulators and law enforcement agencies as financial fraud increasingly moves into digital channels.
While cryptocurrency trading itself is not illegal in Nigeria, the EFCC has maintained that virtual assets cannot be used as a shield for proceeds of crime.
The agency’s position is that the legal status of cryptocurrency does not protect transactions involving fraud, money laundering, corruption or other criminal activities.
EFCC Turns to Civil Asset Forfeiture
Olukoyede also disclosed that the EFCC is increasingly using civil asset forfeiture mechanisms to recover assets suspected to be proceeds of crime.
He said the commission is leveraging Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud Act to pursue forfeiture proceedings against assets without necessarily waiting for lengthy criminal trials to conclude.
“This is faster and quicker than criminal trial. We don’t have to wait 10, 15 years when witnesses die and assets are dissipated,” he said.
Under the civil process, the commission can bring an action against an asset, while anyone claiming ownership may be required to establish the legitimate source of the funds used to acquire it.
Olukoyede said the approach has already produced results in several ongoing cases involving assets allegedly connected to former public officials.
EFCC Strengthens Management of Forfeited Assets
The commission is also changing how forfeited assets are managed.
According to Olukoyede, the EFCC does not directly manage every category of recovered property. Instead, it engages professionals with relevant expertise to manage different classes of assets in accordance with the Proceeds of Crime Act 2022.
“For real estate we have estate managers. For virtual assets we have stock market professionals. For a radio station we call broadcast experts,” he explained.
The approach is intended to preserve and potentially maximise the value of recovered assets while legal proceedings continue.
The commission has also begun disposing of some assets that could lose value through prolonged litigation, with proceeds placed in escrow accounts pending final court decisions.
Forfeited Lagos Hotels Placed Under New Management
Olukoyede disclosed that some high-profile hotels recently forfeited in Lagos have been placed under new management.
He said banks associated with the properties have been directed to remit sales proceeds and income generated from the assets to the EFCC.
The development forms part of a broader effort to prevent recovered assets from deteriorating or becoming liabilities while they remain subject to legal proceedings.
To coordinate the process, the EFCC has established a dedicated Process and Proceeds Management (PCM) Directorate responsible for overseeing forfeited assets.
EFCC Says Institutional Reform Is More Important Than Enforcement
Despite the commission’s expanding enforcement capabilities, Olukoyede argued that law enforcement alone cannot solve Nigeria’s financial crime problem.
He called for deeper policy and institutional reforms designed to eliminate the loopholes that enable public funds to be diverted in the first place.
“The most effective system is not law enforcement. It is the policy regime, institutional reforms that close leakages,” he said.
The position reflects a broader shift from simply pursuing offenders after funds have disappeared towards strengthening the financial system’s ability to detect, prevent and disrupt suspicious transactions.
Nigeria’s Crypto Economy Faces Greater Scrutiny
The EFCC’s new strategy signals a more assertive approach to the intersection between cryptocurrency, corruption and financial crime in Nigeria.
For legitimate cryptocurrency users and businesses, the distinction remains important: virtual asset activity is not itself prohibited, but transactions involving suspected criminal proceeds remain subject to investigation and enforcement.
For criminals, however, the ability to move money rapidly into digital assets is increasingly unlikely to provide the level of anonymity and protection it once appeared to offer.
With faster transaction monitoring, wallet-tracing capabilities, a national confiscation wallet and expanded use of civil forfeiture, the EFCC is attempting to ensure that the speed of digital finance does not outpace the ability of Nigerian authorities to recover illicit wealth.
The bigger challenge, Olukoyede suggested, is ultimately preventive.
If institutional leakages can be closed before public funds are diverted, the need for complex investigations and asset recovery operations may be significantly reduced.
