The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, has disclosed that N100 billion from funds recovered by the anti-graft agency has been allocated to the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) since 2024.
Olukoyede made the disclosure on Monday in Abuja while highlighting the achievements of the commission under his leadership.
He said the EFCC had recovered more than N1.23 trillion and $684 million in 33 months, stressing that the proceeds were increasingly being deployed to programmes with direct benefits to Nigerians.
According to him, N50 billion was approved for NELFUND from EFCC recoveries in 2024, while an additional N50 billion was approved in 2026.
“The national impact of recovery is perhaps clearest when proceeds of crime are converted into productive social investment,” Olukoyede said.
He explained that the Federal Government, in August 2024, directed the release of N50 billion each from recovered proceeds to NELFUND and the Nigerian Consumer Credit Corporation.
He added that the two institutions subsequently received further N50 billion allocations each from EFCC recoveries in 2026.
Olukoyede said the utilisation of recovered criminal proceeds for education and household credit demonstrated that anti-corruption efforts could deliver benefits beyond prosecution and punishment.
He said such recoveries could restore fiscal space, boost revenue for governments and return funds to institutions, companies and individuals.
Two private universities forfeited to FG
The EFCC chairman also revealed that two private universities had been forfeited to the Federal Government following investigations by the commission in the past two years.
He identified one of the institutions as NOK University, which was forfeited by Anthony Hassan, a former Director of Finance and Accounts at the Federal Ministry of Health.
The university has since been converted into the Federal University of Applied Sciences, Kachia, Kaduna State.
Olukoyede said the institution admitted 1,909 students in December 2025, describing the development as an example of how proceeds of crime could be transformed into productive public assets.
“These are students who ordinarily would not have been afforded the opportunity of tertiary education,” he said.
He further disclosed that another private university described as a high-value asset had recently been finally forfeited to the Federal Government.
NELFUND was established in 2024 after President Bola Tinubu assented to the Student Loans (Access to Higher Education) Act. The scheme provides interest-free loans to qualified students in tertiary institutions.
NELFUND said on July 4 that it had disbursed more than N303 billion to 1,635,676 beneficiaries out of 1,800,489 applications received.
In a related development, President Tinubu on August 19 directed that all funds recovered by the EFCC, as well as unclaimed dividends held in the Capital Market Trust Fund and Dormant Account Trust Fund, should be channelled to NELFUND.
The directive is intended to expand the reach of the student loan scheme and strengthen its capacity to support more students pursuing higher education.
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