The Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) has laid credence to the reforms contained in the newly introduced Investment and Security Act 2025 as a clearer and stronger basis to fight financial crime.
The Director General of EFCC, Mr. Olanipekun Olukoyede declared this at the Mid-Year Conference & Induction Ceremony of the Association of Enterprise Risk Management Professionals (AERMP) at the weekend.
EFCC DG was represented by ACE I Ahmed M. Ghali CFE, fwc, Ag. Director, Lagos Zonal Directorate 2 who delivered the speech at the conference which was held at the James Hope University, Lekki, Lagos
The theme of the conference was; “The Investment & Securities Act 2025: Implementation for Enterprise Risk Management & Compliance in the Financial Markets”.
Olukoyede sees the reforms contained in the Investment and Security Act 2025 as a reinforcement of basis to aid its mandate since according to him, the Act modernizes our capital markets framework in three crucial ways:
“1) It draws emerging asset classes including digital and tokenized assets into the regulatory perimeter; 2) It strengthens investor protection through clearer definitions, higher disclosure standards, and sharper enforcement powers for regulators, and 3) It aligns our financial architecture with global norms, ensuring that Nigerian markets can compete for capital and innovation on the world stage without sacrificing transparency.
“For the EFCC, these reforms are not abstract. They give us a clearer, stronger basis to investigate, prevent, and prosecute market-related financial crimes, from insider trading and market manipulation to cross-border fraud and illicit fund flows. More importantly, they align perfectly with our statutory mandate to work hand in hand with other regulators in building a financial ecosystem that is clean, credible, and resilient.
EFCC boss gave a brief of the Commission’s impactful results in the past years. He said;
“In recent years, the EFCC’s work has yielded some of the most impactful results in our history. We have seen:
- Unprecedented recoveries of illicit wealth, not just in cash, but in physical and investment assets repurposed for public benefit.
- Cross-border asset returns, the product of painstaking collaboration with foreign law enforcement, turning stolen wealth held offshore into tangible resources for national development.
- Complex domestic prosecutions involving large-scale diversion of public funds, procurement fraud, and mismanagement of investment pools. These are not small matters; they have macroeconomic consequences, eroding fiscal space and investor confidence.
- Targeted action against fraudulent investment schemes and cyber-enabled market abuses, including asset seizures in the virtual currency space, sending a clear message that our reach extends into the digital realm.
“These outcomes are not just statistics. They are reminders that where governance is weak, the losses are real to investors, to taxpayers, and to the credibility of our markets. For enterprise risk managers, each of these cases are a cautionary tale: controls are only as strong as the willingness to enforce them.”
Olanipekun Olukayode therefore gave the following actionable advice to risk and compliance personnel
“Drawing from our enforcement experience, I want to emphasize four actionable lessons for risk professionals under the new ISA framework:
- Asset custody and segregation must be uncompromising. Investors’ funds and assets must be ring-fenced, traceable, and safeguarded through rigorous custody controls.
- Digital assets demand a new level of vigilance. Without robust KYC, transaction monitoring, and blockchain analytics, virtual platforms become high-speed vehicles for illicit fund movements.
- Transparency is not negotiable in fundraising. Under the ISA 2025, misrepresentation or failure to secure regulatory clearance for public offers is a direct path to enforcement action.
- Regulator readiness is a business imperative. The ability to quickly produce accurate, auditable records in response to lawful requests is now a core risk management function, not an administrative afterthought”; He highlighted.
Olanipekun said that EFCC is ready to partner under ISA 2025 in the following areas as it the importance of prevention, collaboration, and capacity building
The EFCC recognizes that enforcement is only one part of the equation. Prevention, collaboration, and capacity building are equally important. Our approach includes:
- Joint task forces with regulators to identify systemic risks early and respond quickly to suspicious market activities. Our recent collaborative recoveries and prosecutions illustrate the value of these partnerships.
- Capacity-building engagements with compliance teams and risk managers, particularly in high-growth areas like virtual assets, trade-based money-laundering indicators and cross-border asset tracing.
- Transparent application of recovered assets for public benefit, reinforcing trust in the enforcement process. The Commission has reiterated a commitment to ensuring that repatriated assets are applied for public good, including infrastructure projects where appropriate. This transparency strengthens public trust and support for enforcement actions.
He charged risk professionals to move compliance from the margins to the core of corporate strategy. He charged them to embed compliance into decision-making at every level, invest in technology and talent that can keep pace with evolving threats, become proactive in engaging with regulators rather than waiting for enforcement to knock and build internal cultures that reward transparency and accountability.