‘You Will Weep’: EFCC Chief Exposes Savage ‘Every-Minute’ Plunder Of Nigeria’s Treasury
ABUJA, NIGERIA — In a blistering indictment of systemic corruption, Ola Olukoyede, the Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has revealed that rogue public officers are plundering Nigeria’s national resources “every single minute.”
Speaking on Thursday in Abuja at a high-profile event marking the 80th birthday of Kanu Agabi, a former Attorney-General of the Federation, the anti-graft boss painted a grim, harrowing picture of the state of the nation’s treasury.
A Flood of Corruption Petitions
Olukoyede shocked the audience by disclosing the sheer volume of financial crimes being reported to the commission. He revealed that the EFCC is currently inundated with more than 20,000 corruption petitions annually—all tied directly to the abuse of public office.
Describing the contents of the agency’s current investigations as “terrible,” the EFCC chief stated that the level of greed documented in the files is enough to move anyone to tears.
“I receive over 20,000 petitions in a year in respect to public corruption, all terrible,” Olukoyede lamented. “What is going on? Like every minute, public officers take money, and if you go through some of our case files you will weep.”
The Midnight Treasury Raid
Providing insight into the sophisticated tactics used by corrupt bureaucrats, Olukoyede exposed a notorious late-night ritual. He explained that corrupt officials frequently orchestrate massive, illegal wire transfers to private bank accounts just moments before midnight on the final day of the budget cycle, deliberately draining unspent public allocations that should legally be returned to government coffers.
The EFCC chairman emphasized that the agency is shifting its focus toward proactive fraud risk assessments to block these leakages before the money disappears. However, he warned that institutional transparency across both public and private sectors remains the only permanent cure to safeguard Nigeria’s future.
