The Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mr. Ola Olukoyede on Friday August 15, 2025 handed over a sum of N100,000,000(One Hundred Million Naira) draft recovered by the Commission to representatives of the Federal Ministry of Solid Mineral Development in Akwa Ibom State.
The Uyo Zonal Director of the EFCC, Assistant Commander of the EFCC, ACE1 Oshodi Johnson made the presentation on behalf of the Executive Chairman in a brief ceremony in his office.
The recovery was made from mining companies in Akwa Ibom State who had been defaulting in the payment of royalties to the government.
While handing over the drafts to the Federal Mines Officer in charge of Akwa Ibom State , Mr. Emmanuel Effiong Bassey, Oshodi reiterated the commitment of the Commission to ensuring transparency and accountability in funds and asset recovery. He added that accountability was the way to earn the trust of Nigerians. “We also want the synergy between Federal Ministries and the EFCC to grow stronger especially in information sharing so that we can do more and achieve more with better cooperation at the strategic, operational and tactical levels and the public must know that we work together.
He explained that Olukoyede gave the approval that the draft be released “and that is what we are doing here, and the amount on the drafts is N100million. I want the general public to know that this is just a tip of the iceberg and the Commission will continue to recover every government kobo that is hanging anywhere. We are still investigating and we are going to make bigger recoveries in this sector and beyond, and please sir, continue to provide us with relevant information and we will do more”
Receiving the drafts on behalf of the Ministry, Bassey commended the Commission for its diligence and dedication, describing the mineral and mining sector as critical to economic stability. He also commended the Zonal Director for being very swift in his response to the concerns raised in a petition written to the EFCC which resulted in the record recovery of the sum contained in the drafts. “This sector is very critical to the economy because without this sector, the country struggles, so the synergy really needs to be deepened. With this, we are hoping that much more will come”, he said
Oshodi further thanked the representatives from the ministry for providing actionable intelligence that led to the recovery and reaffirmed the Commission’s readiness to sustain collaboration with the ministry and other agencies, stressing that the Commission will continue to deploy intelligence to track and recover government funds.