Poor Funding Threatening Nigeria’s Anti-Graft Fight, EFCC, ICPC Warn Senate

Sunday Aborisade in Abuja 

Nigeria’s anti-corruption campaign is facing serious setback as the country’s two leading graft-fighting agencies warned that chronic underfunding is crippling investigations, prosecutions and staff welfare, with dire implications for Nigeria’s global image.

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) raised the alarm yesterday during their 2026 budget defence before the Senate Committee on Anti-Corruption and Financial Crimes, painting a grim picture of agencies battling corruption with limited resources.

Chairman of the ICPC, Dr. Musa Adamu Aliyu, SAN, told senators that funding constraints had forced prosecutors to personally bankroll court appearances, while several investigations were stalled due to lack of logistics, manpower and operational funds.

“Our major challenge remains funding. Prosecutors sometimes use their personal money to go to court, and several investigations could not proceed as scheduled because we could not pay service providers,” Aliyu said.

He disclosed that although personnel costs in 2025 recorded near-full performance, releases for overheads and capital projects were abysmally low. 

According to him, the commission received ₦10.13 billion out of the ₦10.62 billion appropriated for personnel costs, but only ₦2.2 billion was released from the ₦7.82 billion overhead allocation, representing just 28 per cent.

“For capital expenditure, only ₦449 million out of ₦7.3 billion approved was released, and that came very late, on November 28, 2025,” he added.

Despite the funding shortfalls, Aliyu said the ICPC recorded notable achievements, including the recovery of ₦33.1 billion in cash, $1.98 million and various assets such as land, vehicles and businesses. 

The commission also filed 72 cases, secured 36 convictions, handled 453 ongoing cases and processed over 1,100 petitions.

However, he stressed the pace of investigations and prosecutions was severely hampered by resource limitations.
“Some cases take between two and five years to conclude. Funding constraints affect travel, document retrieval, forensic tools and manpower. We have to prioritise cases based on available resources,” he said.

Aliyu warned that inadequate funding had also taken a toll on staff morale and security, revealing that a staff member was recently kidnapped and remains in captivity.

“My staff morale is very low. Their welfare is poor, yet they investigate highly sensitive and risky cases. Two days ago, one of our staff was kidnapped and is still in captivity,” he told lawmakers.

He appealed to the National Assembly to improve funding, infrastructure and staff welfare, noting that some state offices were still operating from rented facilities.

“Without adequate funding, there is no way this agency can effectively fight corruption. It will also affect Nigeria’s image globally,” Aliyu said, assuring lawmakers of strict fiscal discipline in the utilisation of funds.

The EFCC echoed similar concerns. Its Executive Chairman, Mr. Olu Olukoyede, disclosed that only 74 per cent of the commission’s total appropriation was released in 2025, while capital releases stood at about 50 per cent, leaving many contractors and service providers unpaid.

“Most of our contractors have not been serviced, including licence providers. This will pose a major problem for us going forward because we need those licences to continue our work,” Olukoyede said.

He revealed that the EFCC proposed a budget of about ₦88 billion for 2026, including ₦22.8 billion for capital projects, but warned that outstanding obligations from 2025 could stall new projects. 

He also disclosed unpaid severance liabilities of about ₦3 billion owed to 32 retired officers.

Members of the Senate committee expressed concern over the disclosures and pledged to work towards improved funding for the agencies.

Committee Chairman, Senator Emmanuel Udende, described the situation as unfortunate, noting that anti-corruption agencies in Nigeria were poorly funded compared to their counterparts in other countries.

“It is sad that funding for anti-corruption agencies is very poor compared to other countries. We will see what we can do to improve it,” Udende said.

The warnings from both agencies underscore growing concerns that without adequate funding and support, Nigeria’s fight against corruption may falter at a time when public accountability and institutional credibility are under intense scrutiny.