The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has commenced a 10-day specialised training programme on asset tracing and cryptocurrency investigations in partnership with the South Korean Police to strengthen its capacity to tackle sophisticated financial crimes.
The programme, which began on Tuesday, October 13, 2026, at the EFCC Academy in Karu, Abuja, is designed for more than 30 EFCC operatives.
Speaking through the Acting Commandant of the EFCC Academy, Assistant Commander Joseph Ogwiji, the commission’s Executive Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, said the growing use of digital financial services and virtual assets had made continuous training essential for investigators.
Olukoyede noted that although these technologies support legitimate economic activities, criminals could exploit them to facilitate fraud, transfer illicit proceeds and conceal their identities.
He stressed the need for investigators to develop the technical expertise to interpret transaction records, trace funds across digital platforms and connect electronic evidence to suspects, particularly in cross-border financial crime and money laundering cases.
The Consul and Police Attaché at the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Nigeria, Eun-pyo Hong, said the programme was the first of its kind organised by the Korean Government in Africa.
Hong explained that the training also marked the first anniversary of a Memorandum of Understanding signed by the EFCC and the Korean National Police Agency (KNPA) in Seoul, South Korea, in October 2025.
The agreement, signed by Olukoyede and the KNPA Deputy Commissioner General, Park Seong-Ju, provides a framework for information exchange, capacity building, asset recovery coordination, research collaboration, training exchanges and broader international cooperation.
The Korean training delegation, led by Woosung Kwon of the Korean Police Investigation Academy, includes Inspector Kim Sung Jae and Sergeant Jung Youngmo.
Kwon said the increasing use of cryptocurrency, cross-chain tools and the dark web by criminals had made international cooperation critical to investigating and recovering illicit funds.
He added that participants would receive practical training in open-source investigation techniques and cryptocurrency tracing, covering the process from identifying initial leads to asset seizure and preparing evidence for court proceedings.
Also speaking, the EFCC Head of External Cooperation, Aliyu Wali, said strengthening investigators’ ability to trace and analyse virtual asset transactions had become imperative as financial criminals increasingly exploited emerging technologies.
Wali expressed confidence that the programme would improve officers’ technical capabilities, strengthen investigations into cyber-enabled financial crimes and support the recovery of criminal proceeds.
