EFCC says whistleblowers could become millionaires by helping recover Nigeria’s stolen assets

• The 2.5% to 5% reward is part of Nigeria’s existing 2016 Whistleblower Policy, not a new EFCC scheme.

• EFCC Chairman Ola Olukoyede urged people with credible information on Nigerian assets abroad to come forward and called for stronger protection for whistleblowers.

• He also highlighted non-conviction-based forfeiture as a key tool in the EFCC’s asset-recovery efforts.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has renewed its call for whistleblowers to provide information that can help Nigeria trace and recover stolen assets taken abroad, with eligible informants entitled to a percentage of the value recovered.

EFCC Chairman Ola Olukoyede made the call on Wednesday, August 26, 2026, while speaking at the 43rd Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime in the United Kingdom.

Olukoyede said people with credible information on the location of Nigerian monetary or non-monetary assets taken abroad could receive between 2.5% and 5% of the value recovered.

“If any one of you is privy to where Nigerian assets are stolen or taken to anywhere in the world, we have an incentive for you; between 2.5% and 5%, it’s going to go back to you upon recovery,” he said. 

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However, the reward is not a new incentive introduced by the EFCC.

The payment is based on the Federal Government’s Whistleblower Policy, approved in December 2016 and developed through the then Federal Ministry of Finance.

The policy provides for rewards of between 2.5% and 5% where information directly leads to the recovery of stolen or concealed public funds or assets. 

The reward operates on a sliding scale rather than as a flat percentage. Recoveries up to ₦1 billion attract 5%; for amounts between ₦1 billion and ₦5 billion, 5% applies to the first ₦1 billion and 4% to the balance. 

For recoveries above ₦5 billion, the rate on the amount above that threshold falls to 2.5%.

Beyond the financial incentive, Olukoyede stressed the need to protect people who provide information.

His position reflects a longstanding weakness in Nigeria’s whistleblowing system. The 2016 policy has faced criticism over the absence of a comprehensive statutory framework protecting whistleblowers from retaliation.

Olukoyede has previously called for the urgent passage of a whistleblower protection law, arguing that people must be able to report corruption without fear of victimisation. 

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Olukoyede also highlighted non-conviction-based asset forfeiture, a mechanism that allows the EFCC to pursue assets suspected to be proceeds of crime without waiting for a criminal conviction.

He said the commission can apply ex parte to a High Court where there is probable suspicion that an asset represents proceeds of crime.

As an example, he disclosed that the EFCC secured the forfeiture of an aircraft allegedly linked to a person accused of collecting about $30 million in bribes. He said the forfeiture was secured within about two months and that the aircraft had been added to the presidential air fleet. 

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Olukoyede also said the EFCC had forfeited cash and assets worth more than $500 million to the Federal Government within three years of his assumption of office. 

His Cambridge appeal therefore represents a renewed push to use an existing whistleblower reward system, stronger protection and faster asset-forfeiture mechanisms to help Nigeria trace money and property allegedly moved beyond its borders.