Nigerians Complain About Corruption But Defend Corrupt Leaders – EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede

The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, has pointed out a contradiction in Nigerians’ stance on corruption.

Ola Olukoyede spoke in Abuja during a meeting with officials from the Centre for Crisis Communication (CCC), led by Chris Olukolade.

The EFCC boss stated that while many complain about corruption, they often defend corrupt leaders when they face prosecution.

He emphasized that corruption must be treated as a shared enemy if the country hopes to achieve real development.

“Everybody is crying that Nigerians are corrupt, that the system is corrupt; that corruption is killing us and destroying our system,” Olukoyede said

According to him, tackling corruption effectively requires a collective effort from citizens, policymakers, and institutions.

The EFCC boss highlighted the importance of collaboration with the CCC to enhance public engagement and strategic communication, noting that public awareness and support are essential to the commission’s success.

He stressed that while Nigerians express frustration over corruption, they sometimes protest in support of people facing corruption charges, undermining the fight against financial crimes.

Olukoyede said “When we investigate high profile cases and arraign people in court, the same people will carry placards and be supporting corrupt leaders. It doesn’t show that we are serious about this fight. The fight is supposed to be a collaborative effort.

“No single agency can do it alone. It is practically impossible for us as EFCC to fight all the battles. The society has a role to play; policy has a role to play and the issue of welfare of the citizens has a role to play.”

Olukoyede also shared insights into his leadership approach, stating that he has prioritized preventing corruption rather than just reacting to it.

He revealed that the EFCC is leveraging intelligence gathering and has established a new directorate, the Fraud Risk Assessment and Control (FRAC), to detect and block financial leakages before they occur.

While enforcement remains a key mandate, Olukoyede believes that strengthening preventive measures will significantly reduce corruption cases, making it more cost-effective than dealing with financial crimes after they occur.

Olukoyede said, “Now we are laying more emphasis on prevention which is a critical aspect of our mandate. We don’t have to always be waiting for money to be stolen before we start working in EFCC. To drive prevention, I established a new directorate called Fraud Risk Assessment and Control, FRAC and now we are doing more of blocking of the leakages.

“We have access to GIFMIS (government payment platform). We want to track and see where every money, released is going. We want to ensure that every capital project is executed. With prevention, we discovered that there will be less to enforce.

“We are not dropping our mandate on enforcement. As a matter of fact, we are scaling it up. But we believe that it is important for us to prevent because it costs less to prevent than to react when the deed must have been done. So that is one of our areas of focus as of now.”

KanyiDaily recalls that EFCC recently arrested Prof. Usman Yusuf, the former Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), over allegations of contract fraud and financial misconduct.