Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — Nigeria’s anti-graft war in the extractive sector is set for a sharper edge as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, NEITI, moved to deepen collaboration, with EFCC pledging stronger enforcement backing for transparency efforts.
The renewed partnership was sealed when NEITI’s Executive Secretary, Musa Sarkin Adar, led his management team on a courtesy visit to EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, at the Commission’s headquarters in Abuja.
Framing the extractive industry as the backbone of Nigeria’s economy, Olukoyede charged NEITI’s leadership to treat transparency oversight as a national economic duty, stressing that EFCC already relies heavily on NEITI’s audit outputs to prosecute financial crimes.
“The extractive industry is the mainstay of our economy,” Olukoyede said, urging Adar to see his appointment as “an opportunity to oversee and monitor transparency and accountability processes in an industry that continues to sustain the economy of Nigeria.”
Highlighting the operational value of NEITI’s work to the Commission, the EFCC boss described NEITI reports as core investigative inputs.
“Your report is like raw materials for us to work with, and with your report over the years, we have been working and making recoveries,” he said. “I can also promise you that in your own time, we will collaborate with you, probably more than we did with your predecessor.”
Olukoyede added that the strengthened engagement could lead to a review of the existing Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, between both agencies, to make it more effective.
“We have an MoU with your organization. We’re going to review it and see what we need to improve on,” he said, using a striking metaphor to underline EFCC’s enforcement role.
“Your Act may not have given you teeth, but mouth and hand to work, but we will lend you our teeth to bite from time to time.”
In his response, Adar, who was appointed NEITI Executive Secretary in November 2025, said the visit reflected his priority of engaging critical stakeholders whose mandates align with NEITI’s transparency objectives.
“I prioritize engagement with key institutions whose statutory mandate align closely with NEITI’s responsibility to promote transparency and accountability in Nigeria’s explorative sector,” Adar said.
He noted that he had been extensively briefed on the existing EFCC-NEITI partnership and commended the impact of the collaboration so far.
“I wish to commend the effort of both agencies and to use this opportunity to ensure ways of further strengthening our existing partnership,” he added.
Adar further stressed that the meeting provided an opportunity to reaffirm the institutional relationship under the MoU and to renew a shared commitment to addressing systemic weaknesses undermining governance in the extractive sector, especially as Nigeria prepares to host the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, EITI; NEITI’s global partner body.
