President Bola Tinubu has urged judges to review prosecution strategies, reconsider outdated precedents and close procedural gaps used by politically exposed persons and organised crime groups to delay or derail criminal trials.
He spoke on Tuesday in Abuja at the eighth annual capacity-building workshop for judges and justices, organised by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the National Judicial Institute (NJI).
Tinubu was represented by Vice President Kashim Shettima, according to a statement issued by the Vice President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Communications.
The President urged the judiciary to assess whether existing laws could address emerging financial crimes and called for justice system reforms to ensure that no one can use technicalities to evade the law.
“Probe prosecution strategies, dismantle outdated precedents, and seal procedural gaps that politically exposed persons and organised crime actors exploit to delay or frustrate trials,” he said.
Tinubu described financial and economic crimes as an existential threat to Nigeria, adding that corruption affected every arm of government and all sections of society.
He said it was a mistake to treat the anti-corruption campaign as solely an executive agenda, arguing that compromised public services harmed the executive, legislature, judiciary and ordinary citizens alike. He described the fight against corruption as a matter of national survival.
“We must no longer permit legal pyrotechnics and procedural pedantry to shelter criminality.
“The Bench is not merely a mechanical arbiter of rules, but an active guardian of moral order and social equity,” he said.
“Law is, by design, an instrument of social engineering; it must invariably prioritise the public good over narrow, selfish interests shielded by technical manoeuvres.
“Our courts must embody the spirit, and not just the arid letter, of the law.”
Tinubu said efforts to tackle corruption would not succeed “without an independent, progressive, and reform-minded Bench.”
He commended the EFCC for convening the workshop, themed “Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Financial Crimes in a Digital Age.”
Describing the theme as timely, he said technology had expanded the reach of criminal activity and made illicit schemes more sophisticated.
“The rise of blockchain technology and artificial intelligence has introduced unprecedented layers of complexity to traditional illicit activities,” he said.
Tinubu said law enforcement and judicial authorities needed to keep building their capacity to respond to crimes that “constantly mutate.”
He also praised the EFCC’s work against cryptocurrency fraud, saying the agency had recovered billions of naira in cases involving investment scams.
Tinubu said that in 2025 the EFCC secured the forfeiture of $22,417.91 in Bitcoin, 1,001,301.87 USDT in digital assets and $5.6m linked to the CBEX scheme. He added that 192 foreign nationals arrested for cyber-terrorism and cryptocurrency fraud were prosecuted and deported.
The President also commended the commission for securing 10,872 convictions and recovering ₦1.233tn during the first 34 months of his administration.
He said the EFCC filed 14,476 cases and secured 10,872 convictions during that period, a conviction-to-filing ratio of 75.1 per cent. In the first half of 2026, he added, it secured 1,370 convictions from 1,889 cases filed.
The commission also recovered ₦1.233tn, $684.48m, £373,905.78 and €9.34m in monetary assets, he said.
“The EFCC’s recent momentum in tackling cryptocurrency fraud and its commendable strides in recovering virtual assets is highly reassuring,” Tinubu said, while urging the judiciary to “rapidly upscale its capacity” to support law enforcement.
He acknowledged the reform efforts of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, and pledged the executive’s support for equipping the judiciary to deliver justice in the digital age.
Kekere-Ekun said the workshop reflected the NJI and EFCC’s commitment to addressing systemic challenges in the justice sector. Technology had changed how digital evidence was obtained and recorded, she said, making disciplined case management essential to effective criminal justice.
She added that ongoing judicial education had helped improve judicial officers’ conduct, particularly in managing cases.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Anti-Corruption and Financial Crimes, Emmanuel Udende, said the workshop came at a time of increasingly sophisticated financial crimes. Cases involving politically exposed persons, he said, often faced delays that hindered their timely resolution. He pledged the National Assembly’s support through proactive legislation.
The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), was represented by the Director of Public Prosecutions, Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN). Fagbemi said no single arm of government could tackle corruption alone and urged judges and lawyers to use the workshop to strengthen investigations and prosecutions.
NJI Administrator Justice Babatunde Adejumo said the institute’s partnership with the EFCC had become an important part of the government’s anti-corruption efforts. He said the Vice President’s attendance demonstrated the administration’s commitment to the fight.
EFCC Chairman Ola Olukoyede described the workshop as a national imperative. He said the commission had recorded significant convictions and recoveries over the past three years and assured participants that recovered funds and properties would be handled transparently and judiciously.
