Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ola Olukoyede, has rejected calls for the creation of a single agency to manage assets recovered by government agencies, describing the arrangement as impractical given the scale of recoveries nationwide.

Olukoyede stated this in a post on his X account on Tuesday while responding to the ongoing debate over the management of forfeited assets.

The EFCC chairman, who previously served as the commission’s Secretary and was involved in asset management, said his position was based on practical experience.

He said more than 20 statutory agencies recover assets for the Federal Government, making it unrealistic for one institution to manage all recovered properties.

Olukoyede cited attempts by the United Kingdom and South Africa to establish centralised asset-management arrangements, arguing that the experiences showed the difficulties involved.

He also referenced the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, which was established to manage recovered assets, saying the government lost more than ₦5tn through the institution.

The EFCC chairman said the Proceeds of Crime Act provides a more appropriate framework by assigning responsibility for recovered assets to the agencies that recover them.

He said the approach, alongside Section 31 of the EFCC Act, would ensure agencies are held accountable for what they recover and how the assets are managed.

Olukoyede said the EFCC publishes its recovered assets on its website within 24 hours and that its annual reports had been submitted to the National Assembly on time throughout his tenure.

He pledged that no recovered asset would be mismanaged under his watch.

At a briefing in Abuja last week, Olukoyede disclosed that the EFCC had secured interim and final forfeiture orders covering 10,053 tangible assets under his leadership.

The assets include real estate, vehicles, land, schools, factories, hotels, oil rigs, barges, machinery and aircraft, as well as 102 tonnes of solid minerals.

He also said proceeds from the disposal of finally forfeited assets had generated approximately ₦12.07bn for the Federal Government.