The President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved the appointment of a lawyer and regulatory consultant, Ola Olukoyede as the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for a renewable term of four years, pending Senate confirmation.
Tinubu also appointed Muhammad Hassan Hammajoda as the Secretary of the EFCC for a renewable term of five years in the first instance, pending Senate confirmation.
The appointments were announced in a statement issued by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, on Thursday, October 12, 2023.
Ngelale noted that Olukoyede is a lawyer with over 22 years of experience as a regulatory compliance consultant and specialist in fraud management and corporate intelligence.
“Mr. Ola Olukoyede has extensive experience in the operations of the EFCC, having previously served as Chief of Staff to the Executive Chairman (2016-2018) and Secretary to the Commission (2018-2023). As such, he fulfills the statutory requirement for appointment as Chairman of the EFCC,” the presidential spokesman added.
He stated that Olukoyede’s appointment followed the resignation of the suspended Chairman of the EFCC, Abdulrasheed Bawa.
Hammajoda, on the other hand, is a public administrator with extensive experience in public finance management who holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from the University of Maiduguri and a Masters in Business Administration from the same university.
He began his career as a lecturer at the Federal Polytechnic, Mubi. From there, he went into banking, including successful stints at the defunct Allied Bank and Standard Trust Bank.
Ngelale, however, quoted President Tinubu as tasking the new leadership of the EFCC to “justify the confidence given to them in this important national assignment as a newly invigorated war on corruption undertaken through a reformed institutional architecture in the anti-corruption sector remains a central pillar of the President’s Renewed Hope agenda.”
Here are 10 facts about the newly appointed EFCC Chairman
1. Olukoyede was born on October 14, 1969.
2.. Olukoyede is a native of Ikere-Ekiti, Ekiti State.
3.. He had his university education at the Lagos State University; University of Lagos; Institute of Arbitration, France and the Kennedy School of Executive Education, University of Harvard, United States.
4.. The Ekiti State-born EFCC chairman was a member of the Fraud Advisory Panel, United Kingdom.
5. Olukoyede is a lawyer with over 22 years of experience as a regulatory compliance consultant and specialist in fraud management and corporate intelligence.
6. Olukoyede worked at the law firm of former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo before joining the EFCC.
7. At the EFCC, Olukoyede previously served as the Chief of Staff to the Executive Chairman, Ibrahim Magu (2016-2018)
8. He served as the Secretary of the anti-graft agency between 2018 and 2023.
9. Findings also reveal that he is a Pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, City of Refuge, Lagos Province 12, Shasha, Lagos State.
10. He’s a member of the Federal Government Technical Committee on the Repositioning of the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit.
