The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has highlighted the transformation of forfeited assets into public institutions, with its chairman, Ola Olukoyede, saying a university recovered through an asset-forfeiture case has been converted into a federal university and is already serving thousands of students.
Olukoyede said the development demonstrated how proceeds and assets recovered from suspected criminal activities could be redirected towards public use rather than remaining idle after enforcement proceedings. He cited the Federal University of Applied Sciences, Kachia, in Kaduna State, as a major example of what he described as the practical impact of the commission’s recovery efforts.
According to the EFCC chairman, the institution, formerly known as NOK University, was taken over by the Federal Government following its final forfeiture and subsequently converted into the Federal University of Applied Sciences, Kachia, also known as FUASK.
The university itself confirmed that it matriculated 1,909 pioneer students on December 20, 2025, after commencing academic activities in September of the same year. The institution said the students formally became members of its academic community during the matriculation ceremony held at its main auditorium in Kachia.
Olukoyede pointed to the student population as evidence of the wider social consequences that can follow the recovery and conversion of assets.
“A university seized from crime is now a federal university,” he said, explaining that the former private institution had become a functioning federal establishment where young Nigerians were gaining access to higher education.
He said the significance of the development extended beyond the physical conversion of a property. In his assessment, putting the recovered campus to productive use created an opportunity for students who might otherwise have struggled to gain access to university education.
The Federal University of Applied Sciences has been established around applied sciences, innovation and practical skills development. At its December 2025 matriculation, the institution described itself as a rapidly developing university designed to narrow the gap between theoretical learning and practical application.
Olukoyede further linked the university’s development to the potential economic benefits for its host area in Southern Kaduna. He said the presence and expansion of such an institution could generate economic activity around the community while providing educational opportunities for residents and students from beyond the area.
The EFCC chairman also disclosed that another private university in Kebbi State had recently been finally forfeited to the Federal Government, although he did not identify the institution by name in his remarks.
His description of the property included a temporary site, a permanent site and a particularly large residence constructed for the institution’s vice-chancellor. The university he referred to is consistent with Rayhaan University in Kebbi State, which was among 48 properties linked to former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, that were finally forfeited to the Federal Government following a Federal High Court judgment delivered on July 15, 2026.
The forfeiture involving Rayhaan University covered its permanent site, temporary site and third site, as well as the vice-chancellor’s residence and Rayhaan Radio in Birnin Kebbi. The court’s order formed part of the wider forfeiture of properties that the EFCC said were reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities.
The Kebbi case illustrates the scale of the assets being targeted through the commission’s non-conviction-based forfeiture proceedings. The court order covered not only the university-related properties but also other commercial, residential, hospitality, agricultural and industrial assets associated with the case.
Olukoyede used the examples from Kaduna and Kebbi to make a broader argument about the purpose of financial-crime enforcement. Rather than measuring success solely by arrests, prosecutions or cash recoveries, he said the commission was increasingly focused on ensuring that recovered assets could ultimately produce value for the Nigerian public.
He disclosed that between October 2023 and July 2026, the EFCC secured the forfeiture of 10,053 assets. The assets, according to him, ranged across several categories, including real estate, land, vehicles, electronics, schools, factories, hotels, oil rigs, barges, machinery and aircraft.
The commission also recorded the recovery of 102 tonnes of solid minerals during the period, while proceeds from the disposal of forfeited assets had generated ₦12.07 billion for the Federal Government, according to the chairman.
Olukoyede said the figures reflected a broader approach in which enforcement was expected to have consequences beyond the immediate seizure of property or recovery of money.
He argued that taking assets away from criminal enterprises could reduce the financial incentive for future offenders while allowing the recovered value to be redirected towards legitimate economic and social purposes.
“This is what enforcement looks like when it moves beyond punishment,” he said, stressing that every asset removed from a criminal enterprise potentially reduces the reward available to those who may seek to engage in similar activities.
The EFCC chairman described this effect as a “deterrent dividend,” linking asset recovery to wider objectives that include strengthening government revenue and protecting the integrity of the financial system.
The commission’s figures also place the asset recoveries within a wider enforcement record presented by Olukoyede. Between October 2023 and July 2026, the EFCC reported recovering ₦1.233 trillion in naira in addition to funds recovered in foreign currencies and securing 10,872 convictions.
The Kaduna university, however, provides perhaps the clearest illustration of what the commission means by converting recovered value into public benefit. Rather than leaving the forfeited property as another seized asset, the former NOK University campus became part of the federal university system and began admitting students.
The university’s first matriculation represented the transition from asset recovery to active public use. Its 1,909 pioneer students were admitted after more than 4,000 applications were reportedly received, underscoring the demand for places at the newly established institution.
For the EFCC, the development provides a tangible example of how financial-crime enforcement can intersect with education, public infrastructure and local economic development.
Olukoyede’s comments therefore place forfeited universities within a larger recovery strategy in which properties previously associated with suspected unlawful activities can, subject to government decisions and legal processes, be redirected towards productive purposes.
The two university cases also demonstrate different stages of that process. In Kaduna, a forfeited campus has already been converted into a federal institution with students enrolled and matriculated. In Kebbi, the university and associated properties were among assets recently subjected to a final forfeiture order.
The EFCC’s position is that such recoveries should ultimately deliver measurable value to the public. For Olukoyede, that value is not limited to money returned to government accounts. It can also take the form of functioning educational institutions, productive infrastructure and other assets capable of serving legitimate economic and social needs.
The transformation of the Kaduna campus into the Federal University of Applied Sciences, Kachia, consequently stands as one of the clearest examples cited by the commission of its argument that recovered assets can acquire a new public purpose.
With thousands of students already enrolled, the former private university has moved from being an asset at the centre of a forfeiture proceeding to a functioning federal institution. For the EFCC chairman, that transition represents the broader objective of ensuring that enforcement against financial crime ultimately produces benefits that extend beyond the courtroom and into the wider Nigerian economy.
