By Christopher Oji
The Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ola Olukoyede has charged members of the National Assembly to enact a law against unexplained wealth, stressing that it will boost the fight against economic and financial crimes and other acts of corruption.
He made the call in Abuja yesterday, July 9, 2025, at the National Conference on Public Accounts and Fiscal Governance convened by the Public Accounts Committee of the Senate and House of Representatives. He decried the lack of legislation against unexplained wealth, maintaining that corruption is strengthened when people living above their means are not brought to book. “ I want to make an appeal to you all, please, pass the bill on unexplained wealth”, he said.
He called for transparency in resource management at all levels of government stressing that Nigeria is bountifully blessed with resources but without prudent management, nothing tangible would be achieved.“We need transparency in resource management. That’s all we need. Everywhere you go in Nigeria, you see natural resources all around you. We will succeed if we are resolute about resource management”, he said.
The EFCC’s boss also located a direct nexus between mismanagement of resources and insecurity, maintaining that, “ mismanagement of resources is behind banditry, kidnapping, terrorism and other acts of insecurity”. He called on Nigerians to optimize the opportunities of turnaround prevalent in President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s government stressing that,“ the administration of President Tinubu is the best opportunity we have , we must not miss it”.
He called on custodians of stolen assets abroad to cooperate with the EFCC in getting the assets returned to the country, arguing that “ custodians of stolen assets are as guilty as those that stole the assets”.
The House Committee Chairman on Public Accounts, Honourable Bamidele Salaam appreciated the EFCC Chairman’s contributions and called for a review of the nation’s cost of labour to make Nigerians live above inducements to corruption. “ We must do something about our wage system if we are serious about the fight against corruption”, he said.