Anti Graft Agency offers up to 5% reward for leads on stolen Nigerian assets abroad
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is offering whistleblowers between 2.5% and 5% of the value of Nigerian assets recovered abroad when credible information they provide leads to a successful recovery.
EFCC Chairman Ola Olukoyede announced the incentive on Wednesday at the 43rd Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime in the United Kingdom, urging Nigerians with information about allegedly stolen funds or assets moved overseas to come forward.
Olukoyede said the incentive is intended to encourage people with access to information about hidden Nigerian assets to assist investigators. The reward, however, is tied to actual recovery, meaning a tip by itself does not automatically qualify for payment.
The EFCC chairman also said the commission had recovered and secured the forfeiture of more than $500 million in cash and assets within his first three years in office.
The announcement brings back memories of Nigeria’s Whistleblowing Policy, formally introduced by the Federal Government in December 2016, during the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari.
The policy offered informants 2.5% to 5% of recovered funds for information leading to the recovery of public funds or assets.
The scheme produced some high-profile recoveries. One notable case involved a whistleblower whose information helped authorities discover about $43.5 million, £27,800 and ₦23.2 million hidden in an apartment in Ikoyi, Lagos. The informant was subsequently awarded about ₦421 million, according to academic research on Nigeria’s whistleblowing policy.
The renewed incentive therefore raises a broader question: can financial rewards encourage more Nigerians to expose corruption while adequate protection is provided to those who come forward?
Nigeria’s experience has also highlighted concerns over the protection of whistleblowers. A major challenge has been that the 2016 policy was an executive policy rather than a comprehensive whistleblower-protection law, leaving questions about protection from retaliation.
The EFCC’s latest move shifts the focus specifically to assets allegedly taken out of Nigeria, potentially giving citizens, financial professionals and others with knowledge of offshore holdings a financial reason to help authorities trace them.
