The President and Chairman of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, ICAN, Haruna Yahaya, has commended the Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mr Ola Olukoyede, on his remarkable strides in the fight against corruption.
He gave the commendation in Abuja on Tuesday, February 10, 2026, when he led other members of ICAN’s management team on a courtesy visit to Olukoyede at the Commission’s corporate headquarters
He praised the EFCC Chairman for recording achievements that speak not just of numbers, but international confidence. “You have recorded significant milestones worthy of commendation. It includes unprecedented asset recovery, running into hundreds of billions of naira, encompassing high-value properties, reaffirming the enduring principle that crime does not pay, and thousands of convictions secured through diligent investigation and effective prosecution, thereby strengthening public confidence in the administration of justice.
“Your enhanced international cooperation and partnership have contributed to Nigeria’s improved global financial credibility and stronger alignment with international anti-money laundering and counter terrorism financing standards, which culminated in Nigeria’s exit from FATF’s Grey List. This achievement sends clear signals to citizens, to investors and to the world that accountability, professionalism and integrity are once again central to Nigeria’s anti-corruption fight. We salute the courage, discipline and clarity of purpose that your leadership represents. I think you deserve a round of applause.”
Yahaya identified six practical high-impact areas of collaborations in his proposal, which include forensic Accounting and financial investigation, capacity building and specialised training, joint training programme for EFCC officers in forensic accounting, anti-money laundering, compliance, data analytics, cryptocurrency investigation and emerging fraud typologies.
Others are in the area of expert witness and litigation support, public sector financial oversight and early warning system, research policy and technical advisory support, ethics, prevention and public awareness.
Yahaya observed that “the fight against economic and financial crime is most effective when investigators and professional accountants work hand in hand. When law enforcement authority is backed with deep financial intelligence, technical rigour and ethical discipline, corruption has fewer places to hide.”
Olukoyede in his remarks noted the imperativeness of a working relationship with ICAN. “We know what our mandate is to build Nigeria that is free of financial crimes and corruption, and I know that it is similar to what you do. So, I believe that it’s important for us to work together. We’re going to come up with a joint committee that will determine the content of our collaboration and the form it is going to take, so that it will come up with an MoU.
He noted that “Foreign forensic accounting has become very key, very germane to what we do. Particularly in the area of investigation. In matters of prosecution, we also need expert witnesses, professionals like you from time to time.”
The EFCC boss, however, regretted the fact that members of the accounting profession often choose to be enablers of corruption and charged ICAN to embark on a process of internal rebirth.
“I wish to bring to your notice some of the things we have witnessed in the course of our work. It’s so sad that you have so many professionals who are enablers of financial crimes. When we were investigating pension fraud, I discovered that the people who worked with the principal suspect were chartered accountants. Even in the recent case involving a former Accountant General of the Federation. The essence of having a professional body is for us to ensure that we uphold the ethics of that profession. A situation where qualified chartered members of your profession became enablers of fraud is something that the Institute has to discourage.
“So, part of the things we’ll be working on in this collaboration is to publicly oblige you with a long list of some of your members who have been found culpable. Some of them have been indicted, some of them are facing prosecution, and some of them have been convicted. And even with their conviction, the Institute did nothing. They simply went back to the same profession. They are still practising. They were neither suspended nor delisted. So these are things we need to work on together. We need to discourage such bad eggs,” he said”, he said.
