The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has disclosed that approximately 70% of financial crimes in Nigeria are connected to banks.
The chairman of the anti-graft agency, Ola Olukoyede, gave this hint during his address at the 2023 Annual Retreat and General Meeting of the Association of Chief Audit Executives of Banks in Nigeria held in Abuja.
He expressed serious concern that the banking industry was becoming more characterized by fraudulent activities, posing significant challenges and concerns for the commission.
Represented at the forum by the commission’s Director of Internal Audit, Mr. Idowu Apejoye, the EFCC boss stressed the growing need for collaborative actions from relevant authorities and industry professionals, particularly audit executives, to frontally combat fraudulent activities within the sector.
Olukoyede clarified: “Broadly speaking, banking fraud in Nigeria is both inside and outside related. The inside related fraud comprises outright selling of customers’ deposits, authorising loan facilities, forgery and several other kinds of unhealthy and criminal practices.
“The outsider related ones include hacking, ATM fraud, conspiracy, among others. And then the absurd one is when both collaborate, that is collaboration among the bankers and the outsider.
“That one is the one that is really absurd because when you do that, that means you are selling out the system. It is estimated that about 70 per cent of financial crimes in Nigeria are traceable to the banking sector, this scenario is disturbing and unacceptable”, he added.
