By Femi Oyelola, Kaduna
The Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice, ANEEJ, has welcomed the new plan by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to pay whistleblowers up to 5 percent of the value of Nigerian assets recovered abroad, describing it as a potentially transformative step in the fight against corruption.
EFCC Executive Chairman, Mr. Ola Olukoyede, announced the incentive at the 43rd Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime in the UK. He urged individuals worldwide to provide credible and actionable intelligence on assets linked to corrupt Nigerians, whether monetary or non-monetary. Under this plan, successful whistleblowers will receive between 2.5 and 5 percent of the value of the recovered assets.
ANEEJ’s Executive Director, Rev. David Ugolor, expressed that the initiative could turn whistleblowing into a legitimate public-interest activity if it’s well-designed and transparently managed.
“We welcome and endorse the EFCC Chairman’s initiative,” Rev. Ugolor said in a statement. “When people who expose stolen assets are protected and fairly rewarded, whistleblowing can become a legitimate public-interest enterprise that turns information into accountability and recovered wealth into benefits for victims of corruption.”
He added that this move could motivate citizens and professionals to identify stolen assets, reward those who take risks to expose corruption, and ultimately restore recovered funds to the communities most impacted.
“If this initiative is anchored in law and managed with transparency, independent oversight, and strong whistleblower protections, it could become a foolproof mechanism against kleptocracy,” Rev. Ugolor said. “But the public must understand the rules.”
To give the policy teeth, ANEEJ is urging the EFCC to publish clear operational guidelines immediately. The framework should specify who qualifies as a whistleblower, what types of information are eligible, and how intelligence will be submitted, evaluated, and verified.
It also calls for clarity on how the value of recovered assets and the reward amounts will be calculated, when payments will be made, and the process for claims. Most importantly, ANEEJ insists on ironclad provisions to protect whistleblowers’ identities, safety, and confidentiality.
“The framework should also include safeguards against conflicts of interest, false claims, and abuse of the system,” Rev. Ugolor said. “There needs to be a clear review or appeal process when a reward claim is rejected, and the relationship with the existing Federal Government Whistleblowing Policy must be clarified.”
The civil society group further urged the EFCC to establish secure, confidential reporting channels accessible to whistleblowers both inside and outside Nigeria. It emphasized that without protection from retaliation, intimidation, dismissal, or prosecution, the incentive will not attract credible intelligence.
Nigeria, ANEEJ said, urgently needs comprehensive whistleblower protection legislation to provide statutory backing for these safeguards. Additionally, independent auditing and public reporting of how funds are managed and disbursed should be incorporated.
Beyond merely recovering assets, ANEEJ emphasized that transparency must also apply to how the recovered funds are used. The group warned that recovered assets could vanish into government accounts without oversight.
“Recovered assets should not just disappear,” Rev. Ugolor said. “The ultimate beneficiaries should be the Nigerian people, especially communities and individuals harmed by corruption. Information on recoveries, reward payments, and the use of recovered assets must be published regularly.”
ANEEJ acknowledged the EFCC’s reported progress in recovering cash and assets suspected to be proceeds of corruption. However, it pointed out that forfeiture is only part of the effort.
“Nigerians need to know what has been recovered, from whom, under which legal process, where the assets are held, and how they are ultimately used,” the statement read.
The organization expressed its readiness to collaborate with the EFCC, government agencies, civil society organizations, and international partners to develop a credible whistleblower incentive and protection system aligned with global best practices.
For ANEEJ, the success of the 2.5 to 5 percent reward scheme will not be judged by the announcement at Cambridge, but by the law that backs it, the transparency overseeing it, and the victims finally seeing stolen wealth returned to them.
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