Olanipekun Olukoyede, chairman of Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), said President Bola Tinubu approved monitoring Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) releases to state and local governments to limit diversion of public money.
Olukoyede made the remarks at an Oct. 2 event in Awka. Reports from the ceremony quoted him as saying Tinubu had authorized the monitoring. Anambra State's account of the event said Olukoyede discussed tracking FAAC releases as a way to reduce the risk of public money being diverted, but did not mention the president's approval.
The state government presented the public as the intended beneficiary of the oversight. BusinessDay's contemporaneous account described the plan within a wider EFCC shift toward preventing financial crime alongside efforts to recover stolen funds.
In a Sept. 4, 2024, speech, Olukoyede said the EFCC's department of Fraud Risk Assessment and Control (FRAC) assesses public-sector systems and follows disbursements to federal ministries, departments and agencies. The proposal for state and local governments would bring FAAC releases to subnational recipients into the monitoring he had described for federal agencies.
In the same speech, Olukoyede referred to public-finance reforms and a Supreme Court decision concerning direct FAAC payments to local councils.
