Restructuring of EFCC:  Olukoyede Appoints Chief of Staff, Zonal Directors

*Photo: Mr. Michael Nzekwe, the new Chief of Staff*

The Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mr. Ola Olukoyede has appointed Mr. Michael Nzekwe as his Chief of Staff. He has also appointed Zonal Directors for each of the 14 Zonal Commands of the Commission.

Nzekwe, topnotch investigator, lawyer and former Commander of the Ilorin Zonal Command of the EFCC, is a course one officer of the Commission. He has served in various departments in the Commission, including Legal and Prosecution Department, Department of Operations (now Department of Investigations), Department of Internal Affairs ( now Department of Ethics and Integrity),  Servicom, and Asset Forfeiture Department.

A seasoned administrator, he has attended several trainings and courses home and abroad, including the Advance Defence Intelligence Officers Course organised by Defence Intel Agency, DIA. The appointment takes immediate effect and he has assumed duties.

Olukoyede,  in his restructuring and repositioning of the EFCC,  equally upgraded all the Zonal Commands of the Commission to the status of Departments,  with each of them headed by a Director.  To this effect,  14 new Directors have been appointed to head each of the Zonal Commands.  Additionally, to bolster and fortify the security architecture of the Commission,  the Security Unit of the EFCC has been upgraded to a Department with a seasoned officer appointed as Director,  Security and Chief Security Officer.

A new Department has also been created in the Executive Chairman’s office and it is headed by  former  Makurdi Zonal Commander of the EFCC,  Mr. Friday Ebelo who also doubles as Director and Coordinator, Special Duties at the corporate headquarters of the Commission.  The former Department of Internal Affairs has been renamed Department of Ethics and Integrity and minor reshuffling effected in some Departments at the headquarters.

An important component of the restructuring is the creation of a new Department to drive the Preventive Mandate of the EFCC.  Olukoyede, in an unprecedented move, created the Fraud Risk Assessment and Control Department to handle this all- important work of the Commission.  The Department has commenced operations and its impact would be felt more across the country in a short while.

Olukoyede says that the ongoing restructuring is meant for the repositioning and strengthening of the EFCC to deliver on its assigned mandate optimally.