The Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ola Olukoyede, has urged real estate developers to conduct thorough background checks on real estate investors to verify the legitimacy of their sources of income.
He stated this on Wednesday, August 6, 2025, at an event titled “Policy Dialogue on Critical Issues Affecting Nigeria’s Real Estate Ecosystem,” held in the Aso Hall of the Abuja Intercontinental Hotel. The event, an initiative of Law Corridor, was a solution-driven conversation that brought together key regulators, public officials, private sector leaders, legal experts, and real estate development actors to evaluate systemic failures and discuss policy responses that can position the sector on the path of transparency and growth.
Speaking of the topic “Tackling Illegal Property Sales, Fake Developers and Unlicensed Agents,” Olukoyede stated that, “By empirical things we have gathered and some of the things we have seen, statistics and reports, we discover that the issue of money laundering is very rampant among real estate developers and stakeholders in the sector. As a developer, the first thing that must come to your mind is that you have to do KYC (Know Your Customer). Even if the law has not made it mandatory for you to do it, in the interest of your business and for the survival of your business, do it.
“It doesn’t cost you anything. At the press of a button on the public media space, you can get basic information about virtually everybody in Nigeria. Why you don’t do it is because you feel you will scare your potential customers or prospective customers. Don’t forget the legal principle of accessory before and after the fact of a crime. So, if somebody steals money and uses it to buy property from you, and we trace that money to you, we will recover it from you, because you can’t sit on the proceeds of crime. The moment we establish it and prove that this money was stolen. We will follow it, trace it, recover it. We will take the money back from you. So please do KYC in the interest of your business.”
He emphasised that the EFCC will work in partnership with real estate players who play by the rules and ensure that their businesses grow.
“One of the key concepts of my operational strategy upon my assumption of office is to use the instrumentality of the EFCC mandate to stimulate the economy. There is no way the fight against corruption will succeed if the economy is destroyed. So, we encourage investors like you; we encourage developers like you by always telling you to do the right thing. Real estate is one of the key areas we are looking to for the rapid development of our economy. It should be important to encourage people like you, but always play by the rules if you want your business to succeed.
“The trend I’ve noticed in Nigeria in real estate development and business is that a lot of you just go into it without knowing anything about the rules and regulations that govern the sector. Let us always understand that to every business, there are applicable rules, and it’s very much in the interest of the stakeholders that the rules should be followed. The difference between our country and developed countries where things work is just compliance with the rules. That’s what we are lacking here. And when you see some of the people who have succeeded in business in this part of the world, you discover that they follow the rules. Not 100 per cent, but they try as much as possible to do the right thing,” he said.
Speaking further, he said, “Don’t let anybody hide under you and do money laundering. We’re going to expose you, we’re going to fish you out. Because we are getting to a stage in Nigeria where all of us will have to synergise and collaborate. The government will play its part, private sector players will play their part and the country to move forward. I want to see you succeed, but I have to do the right thing. You have access to the EFCC; our doors are open. Rest assured that we are not looking for your business to go under. Our job is to make you succeed. That’s my work, because when you succeed, you employ more people, and more Nigerians will get jobs to sustain themselves, and the propensity for them to commit financial crime will be reduced.”
In his contribution, the director, Special Unit against Money Laundering, SCUML, of the EFCC, Harry Erin, while advising the public to ensure that the transactions they make go through financial institutions to curb money laundering, regretted the absence of proper regulation in the real estate sector, especially regarding estate agents.
“My advice for people is to make sure that any transaction that they make goes through a recognised financial institution. Money laundering law criminalises making cash payments on transactions above a particular threshold. So I will enjoy the public, even if it’s a payment of N5000,000 (Five hundred thousand Naira), make sure you do it through a financial institution.
“We know that there are estate agents, but it is disturbing that we don’t have much regulation in this area. Everybody is an estate agent in Nigeria. And it is one aspect that I think the authorities should look into too, because if you go through an estate agent that is registered and recognised, if a problem comes up, you will have a way of seeking redress; you can go back to the estate agent and say, Where’s my money? And if they cannot produce your money, you can make a report. And the EFCC or other law enforcement agencies would have somebody to go after. But if you go through unlicensed, unnamed individuals, you are at risk of falling into the hands of fraudsters,” he said.
Speaking on “Investment Compliance and Anti-money Laundering in the Real Estate,” Director General of the Bureau of Public Procurement, BPP, Adebowale Adedokun, also called on real estate developers to seek to determine investors’ sources of funds by going beyond KYC to ascertain Proof of Fund.
“Where does the money used in real estate come from? Majorly public sector procurement accounts. Significantly, for a lot of the estates being developed across the country, public sector funding accounts for a lot. So, for the real estate sector, which is one of the prime movers of our economic development as a nation, we cannot overlook the fact that we need to introduce transparency, accountability and how we source money to fund the real estate in this country. And because real estate is very poorly regulated, it’s very easy to throw money in there.
“Where did the investor get the money from? I think real estate business people should act in addition to the KYC, give us proof of funds. Proof of funds is different from KYC. Proof of funds is to tell us where the money you want to invest comes from. Show us historically how you built your business to the point where you can fund a N10 billion estate. We need to know,” he said.
