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The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, has said a private university recently forfeited to the Federal Government had a vice-chancellor’s lodge probably bigger than President Bola Tinubu’s official residence in the Aso Rock Villa.
Speaking in a video posted on his official X account on Friday, September 4, Olukoyede said assets recovered from crime are being converted to public use.
Olukoyede cited the example of NOK University in Kachia, Kaduna State, which was forfeited to the Federal Government and converted into the Federal University of Applied Sciences, Kachia (FUASK).
“A university seized from crime is now a federal university. The recovered campus in Kaduna State became the Federal University of Applied Sciences, and in December 2025, 1,909 students matriculated there. Young people who, in the ordinary course of things, would never have seen the inside of a lecture hall,” he said.
He added that the institution was expected to boost the local economy of Southern Kaduna.
The EFCC boss also disclosed that another “high value” private university has just been finally forfeited to the Federal Government.
“You need to get to that university. It has temporary site and permanent site. The house that was built for the vice-chancellor alone is probably bigger than the president’s house in the villa. The picture is all over the place. If you Google it now, you will see the pictures,” Olukoyede stated.
While he did not name the institution, reports and EFCC filings link the description to Rayhaan University in Kebbi State.
According to the EFCC, the final forfeiture order secured on July 15, 2026 covered the university’s permanent site, temporary site, a third site, its radio station, and the vice-chancellor’s residence.
The properties were linked to a former Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, SAN.
Olukoyede said the EFCC’s asset recovery drive is moving beyond punishment to put recovered wealth back into productive use.
He said, “Taken together, these outcomes tell a larger story. Anti-corruption enforcement can restore physical space, strengthen federal and sub-national revenue, return working capital to institutions, companies and citizens, support financial market integrity, protect the extractive and digital economies, and strengthen Nigeria’s international credibility.
“It also produces a deterrence dividend: every successful every successful prosecution and every asset stripped from criminal enterprise reduces the cost of economic crime.”
Beyond cash, he said, the commission between October 2023 and July 2026 secured the interim or final forfeiture of 10,053 assets: real estate, land, vehicles, electronics, schools, factories, hotels, oil rigs, barges, machinery and aircraft, along with 102 tonnes of solid minerals.
Olukoyede noted that proceeds from disposals under final forfeiture orders so far have returned ₦12.07 billion to the Federal Government.
The EFCC also disclosed that between October 2023 and July 2026, it recovered ₦1.233 trillion in naira and secured 10,872 convictions.
