UNODC Reaffirms Commitment to EFCC in Fight against Corruption

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, UNODC, has restated its commitment to strengthening its partnership with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, in the fight against corruption, cybercrime, illicit financial flows and all other organized crimes.

The commitment was made in Abuja on Tuesday, July 29, 2025, when a delegation of the UNODC, led by its Country Representative, Mr. Cheick Ousman Toure, paid a courtesy visit to EFCC’s Executive Chairman, Ola Olukoyede at the corporate headquarters of the Commission.

Toure emphasized UNODC’s new strategic approach to partnership with Nigeria, noting that the country has been a key player in implementing global anti-corruption frameworks such as the United Nations Convention against Corruption, UNCAC,  and the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, UNTOC.

“For us in UNODC, we have developed a new approach to partnership. Nigeria has been a leader, not only in ratifying key conventions but also in contributing to their documentation. We worked closely with the EFCC in 2014 and 2020, particularly in anti-money laundering initiatives. Now, we are moving from ad-hoc interventions to a jointly developed country programme, which has been approved by the UN as our five-year blueprint for Nigeria,” he said.

Toure highlighted the recent global funding challenges, including a projected cut in U.S. foreign aid from October 2025, stressing the need for more sustainable and regionally driven solutions. “We must look at how we can support Nigeria in addressing illicit financial flows, which costs the continent billions of dollars annually. Nigeria is at the forefront of this fight, and its leadership should resonate at the sub-regional level,” he said.

The UNODC Country Representative also identified cybercrime, illegal mining, and the need for stronger state-level enforcement as key areas of concern. He pledged UNODC’s readiness to support the EFCC in closing operational gaps, enhancing regional cooperation, and improving intelligence-sharing mechanisms.

“We see an opportunity to work with EFCC on cybercrime, given that Nigeria is the only African country aligned with the Budapest Convention. We also want to help close the gaps in local enforcement so that EFCC operatives can be more effective at the state and community levels,” he said.

Olukoyede in his response, expressed delight with the longstanding collaboration between the EFCC and UNODC. He declared the Commission’s readiness to expand the scope of cooperation in line with emerging trends in organized crime.

“Our doors are always open to this kind of collaboration.  Over the years, EFCC has tracked the record of UNODC, just as you have tracked ours. It is now imperative to broaden our partnership, especially considering the new dynamics in transnational crimes,” he said.

He also emphasized the Commission’s commitment to reducing reliance on foreign aid by developing home-grown initiatives. “We believe that we do not necessarily have to depend on foreign aid. We are already developing domestic mechanisms to fund some of our operations and we will continue to strengthen these efforts,” he said.

In the area of tackling transnational organized crime in West Africa, Olukoyede pointed to EFCC’s leadership position in the Network of Anti-Corruption Institutions in West Africa, NACIWA,  and called for deeper regional collaboration. “The crimes we are tackling are transnational. If we are to defeat them, our cooperation must cut across jurisdictions. We need a secure platform for intelligence sharing and we urge UNODC to help facilitate this,” he said.

The EFCC boss equally identified illegal mining as a significant avenue for money laundering, noting that the Commission has already taken steps towards addressing it.