The Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mr, Ola Olukoyede has disclosed that many public officers are now perfecting the antics of anticipatory declaration of assets to justify their intended stealing of public funds and other acts of corruption.
He stated this in Abuja on Tuesday, August 12, 2025 delivering a goodwill message at the launch of the Virtual Tool on the Code of Conduct for Public Officers organized by the Code of Conduct Bureau, CCB in collaboration with the Technical Unit on Good Governance and Anti-corruption Reforms, TUGAR.
Explaining how anticipatory asset declaration is done, he disclosed that, “there is an investigation we carried out and we discovered something not too strange that proves how criminally smart some of our politically exposed persons carry out some of the various activities we investigate them for. I asked my boys to get the CCB form because there is something we were not clear about and we discovered one of the very big properties valued over N3 billion that the person declared in the CCB form carried an address different from the address of the location of the property. I felt something was awry here, we decided to dig further and after more interrogation, we discovered that the person declared the property when the property was not in existence”.
He urged the leadership of CCB to take note of such criminality and intensify investigation through innovative ways to curtail corruption.
The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi pointed out that the bedrock of public service is adherence to standards and ethics of service. He applauded the virtual tool designed by the CCB as a significant milestone in the digitization and technological investigation of public conduct, stating that it will promote preventive compliance and awareness. He enjoined public servants to embrace the new tool for enhanced conduct in public service.
The Head of Service, Mrs Didi Esther Walson- Jack stressed that, “We must leverage on technology to solve problems. It is faster, smarter and more transparent. Without conduct and ethics no reform will last. Ethical governance is not optional. The benefit of this tool is that it is accessible, easy to use, cost effective and promotes transparency that enables tracking and compliance”.
In his Opening Speech, Chairman of Code of Conduct Bureau, Abdullahi Usman Bello explained that the tool will make public officers to be accountable and easy to use.
“The tool will ensure that public servants carry out their duties in high esteem and educate them on the step to step rules and regulations that guides them” , he said.
EFCC Commences Investigation of Suspect for Undeclared $59,000 At Lagos Airport
Operatives of the Lagos Zonal Directorate 2 of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, have commenced investigation of one Duru Ikechukwu Damian arrested by the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, for allegedly failing to declare the sum of $59,000.
Damian was intercepted by operatives of the NCS during a routine check at the AML/ CFT Currency Declaration Desk on Monday, August 11, 2025 at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos.
Upon his arrest, the suspect, who was scheduled to travel on Emirates Airline to Dubai, claimed he had only $10,000 on him.
However, when a search was conducted on him, a sum of $49,000 was discovered undeclared, totalling $59,000.
During the handing over to the EFCC on Tuesday, August 12, 2025, the Area Comptroller in charge of the NCS at the Airport , E. I. Harrison said: “Today, we are having a process that we have been doing over a period of time now. When we intercept currencies, we do the needful of handing over to the appropriate agencies of government.
“We have carried out sensitization and we have had public announcements… Presently, at the airport, announcements are being made, at intervals, on the need for travellers to declare their currencies or equivalents. Also, the electronic signages in the halls display these messages. Yet, at intervals, we also have people who fail to adhere to the extant laws and regulations…”, he said.
While receiving the suspect, the acting Zonal Director, Lagos Zonal Directorate 2, EFCC, Assistant Commander of the EFCC, ACE1 Ahmed Ghali, said: “We are here to take over one of the recalcitrant Nigerians who do not want to abide with the law in relation to money laundering. But we will not relent in enforcing the law. All that we are saying is that laws are meant to be obeyed. So, we will always do our best, in line with our mandate, to ensure that any individual who violates the law does not go scot‑free.”
