ABUJA — The Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ola Olukoyede, has asserted that structural policy reforms remain the most result-oriented strategy for combatting corruption and financial crimes, positioning law enforcement agencies at the lowest rung of the preventive ladder.
Olukoyede made this declaration on Tuesday during a courtesy visit by the Managing Director of the Consumer Credit Corporation (Creditcorps), Uzoma Nwagba, and his management team to the EFCC corporate headquarters in Jabi, Abuja.
According to the EFCC helmsman, proactive systemic adjustments must precede reactive enforcement. “Policy reform is the best approach in the fight against corruption all over the world. It is when that fails that enforcement comes in,” Olukoyede stated, adding that a nation lacking an effective credit transaction framework inherently breeds conditions that fuel economic crimes.
The anti-graft chairman identified the Creditcorps initiative and the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) as two of the most transformative legacies of President Bola Tinubu’s administration. He noted that widespread cybercrime among youths is deeply rooted in poverty and educational hurdles, recalling that Nigeria lost upwards of $500 million to internet fraudsters in 2022 alone.
Highlighting the impact of NELFUND, Olukoyede revealed that the student loan scheme has successfully supported about 1.5 million students by covering tuition fees and providing a monthly stipend of N20,000. “Effectively, that has taken about 1.5 million out of my docket of people who have the potential to commit financial crimes,” he remarked.
Turning to public sector corruption, Olukoyede explained that financial desperation often drives civil servants toward illicit enrichment when legitimate earnings fail to cover fundamental needs like housing, transportation, and education. He emphasized that access to affordable, long-term mortgages and consumer credit would drastically lower the propensity for graft.
Underscoring the commission’s commitment to preventive frameworks, Olukoyede disclosed that President Tinubu approved a fresh disbursement of N50 billion each to Creditcorps and NELFUND, sourced directly from the EFCC’s Proceeds of Crime Account. He urged the Creditcorps leadership to maintain utmost transparency, ensure single-digit interest rates for beneficiaries, and strictly channel the recovered funds toward uplifting ordinary Nigerians, particularly civil servants.
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In his response, Creditcorps Managing Director Uzoma Nwagba expressed profound gratitude to the EFCC for its pivotal financial backing. He disclosed that the corporation has disbursed approximately N47 billion in consumer credit to over 301,000 Nigerians within two years, boasting a 100 percent repayment rate with zero non-performing loans.
Nwagba further revealed that Creditcorps is partnering with the Central Bank of Nigeria to build a robust national credit infrastructure. This system will integrate borrowing records with the National Identification Number (NIN) to enable instant credit verifications, while ongoing expansions target broader economic inclusion for women, youth, pensioners, and persons with disabilities.
