The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, has noted that a number of dishonest Nigerian politicians are now using cryptocurrency wallets to secretly keep stolen public funds.
Speaking during a programme to mark Africa Anti-Corruption Day, which was held in Abuja, Lagos, and Ibadan, Olukoyede revealed that the EFCC had noticed an increasing pattern where some politicians hide their loot using digital currencies. These activities, he explained, help them avoid detection by the authorities.
According to him, “Virtual asset fraud is on the rise. Our findings show that fraudulent politicians are already perfecting schemes and hiding their loot in cryptocurrencies to beat the investigative blackness of anti-corruption agencies.” He further noted that many transactions are now being carried out through crypto wallets to keep things hidden.
He explained that while digital assets have helped global financial transactions evolve, they have also opened new ways for criminals to launder money.
“Technology is moving at a supersonic speed around the world,” he said. “However, as with every progressive innovation, fraud starts to usually evolve, evolve ways of perverting their genuine purposes.”
Despite the growing challenge, Olukoyede stated that the EFCC was taking steps to handle the situation. He said that through proper training and better intelligence sharing, the agency had been able to uncover some of these crypto-related schemes. “Proactive and broad-based training and intelligence are bringing fraudulent schemes to the fore,” he said.
In Lagos, his representative, Michael Nzekwe, said virtual assets were now being used not only by fraudsters but also by corrupt public officials to hide money and perform illegal actions across borders. The Ibadan event also echoed the same concerns, as EFCC’s Hauwa Ringin pointed out that such fraud schemes are spreading fast across Africa.
In Abuja, Muhammad Abdullahi, who represented the CBN Governor Yemi Cardoso, said crypto use in Nigeria was growing at a fast rate, with transactions worth over $56 billion recorded between July 2022 and June 2023.
While this made Nigeria a leader in digital finance across Africa, he warned that the increase had also created serious risks. “Our 2024 Financial Stability Report showed a 45 per cent rise in financial fraud cases, and 70 per cent of the losses came from digital platforms,” he said.
He also revealed that more than 30 Ponzi-style scams using crypto had been uncovered by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These schemes, he warned, could affect Nigeria’s reputation in the global financial community. A joint effort is now ongoing between the CBN, SEC, EFCC, and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit to manage and control the risks of virtual assets.
Abdullahi said the CBN was working with the EFCC to create a National Virtual Asset Wallet that would help secure seized digital currencies. He added that educating the public—especially young people—about online scams was key to preventing further financial loss.
