The Secretary General, International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, IDEA, Kevin Casas Zamora, has commended the Executive Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mr Ola Olukoyede, for offering guidance and leadership in the fight against corruption in Nigeria with tangible results to show for the efforts.
He gave the commendation in Abuja on Thursday, May 21, 2026, when he led top executives of the Institute on a visit to the EFCC.
The visit was aimed at updating Olukoyede on the progress and key achievements recorded by both organisations under the Rule of Law and Anti-corruption, RoLAC programme, and to explore further areas of collaboration.
Zamora specifically appreciated the guidance and leadership of the EFCC under Olukoyede in the period of the implementation of one of the crucial legs of the RoLAC programme.
According to him, “it has been a guidance and leadership that has demonstrated the ability to deliver concrete results, not just for the projects but for Nigerians, and that is something that we are very happy about.”
He identified that the collaboration of the Institute with the Commission has been towards capacity building, execution of programmes and developing anti-corruption strategies, which he said were important for both the EFCC and IDEA.
“It is important to highlight that the work we are doing in Nigeria is opening new pathways for us to work on anti-corruption and helping the cause of people around the world who are struggling against corruption. Your work is helping them, through us. One of my main aims of having this conversation is to identify ways to sustain those gains, to expand our work here and to make sure that there is continuity on what is being done,” he said.
He also disclosed that one of the ways to expand the EFCC and IDEA collaboration was to look at the issue of the regulation of political finance.
A member of the delegation, Danladi Plang, praised the Commission for its high-profile prosecution and conviction of politically-exposed persons, stressing that the EFCC is showing the world that impunity is over in Nigeria.
Olukoyede, in his response, expressed profound appreciation of the visit, noting that the collaboration between the EFCC and IDEA dated back in time. He described IDEA as a pillar of support for the EFCC, adding that the mandate of the Commission constantly requires collaboration and synergy to actualise.
He further disclosed that one of his immediate actions upon assumption of office was to identify organisations of like minds that the Commission can collaborate with in the course of its activities, and thanked IDEA for its support over the years.
“Upon my assumption of office, we sat down and drew up programmes. In October 2024, when we were trying to see how we could change the narrative of cybercrime and the involvement of our youth in cybercrime, we reached out to IDEA, and we got very good support. In that event, we were able to launch the establishment of our Cybercrime Rapid Response Centre, launched by the First Lady of Nigeria. It got funded by IDEA, which we have almost completed now. We have also done a lot of capacity building programmes, which were funded by your organisation as well,” he said.
The EFCC boss also cited programmes of the West African anti-corruption regional body, the Network of National Anti-Corruption Institutions in West Africa, NACIWA, which were supported by IDEA.
Though the Commission in the past two years has earned impressive records in the areas of conviction and asset recoveries, Olukoyede informed the delegation that the new focus of the EFCC is on prevention. He described prevention as more cost-effective and impactful in the fight against corruption, economic and financial crimes in the country.
