Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ola Olukoyede, has called for deeper collaboration among anti-corruption bodies, saying collective action is vital to curbing financial crimes and corruption in Nigeria.
Olukoyede made the appeal in Abuja during the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the EFCC and the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), led by its chairman, Abdullahi Bello. The development was disclosed in a post shared on the commission’s official X handle on Wednesday.
Describing corruption as a central driver of Nigeria’s socio-economic challenges, Olukoyede linked the scourge to poverty, hunger, poor infrastructure, and overall underdevelopment. He stressed that no single agency can effectively tackle the menace alone.
“All of us are key players in the anti-corruption fight. Everybody will agree with us that one of the major problems behind poverty, hunger, malnutrition, lack of infrastructure, and generally lack of development in Nigeria is the issue of financial crimes and corruption. If we can make up our minds, work together as a team, and ensure that we confront it frontally, we’ll probably take Nigeria out of this mess. We can complement each other.
“There’s no doubting the fact that we need to collaborate and synergize. We must not compete. We must collaborate and work with sincerity of purpose,” Olukoyede said.
He added that effective implementation of the MoU would be crucial, noting that both agencies have previously benefited from intelligence exchange, technical partnerships, and administrative support.
In his remarks, Bello described the agreement as a significant step toward strengthening institutional ties between the CCB and EFCC. He emphasised that combating corruption requires shared intelligence and coordinated strategies.
According to him, the CCB’s extensive database of asset declarations by public officials remains a key resource for investigations and asset tracing efforts.
The Memorandum of Understanding provides for closer cooperation in joint investigations, asset recovery initiatives, capacity development, technology-driven collaboration, and public awareness campaigns aimed at promoting accountability and transparency in public service.
