Ripplesmetrics: Assessing EFCC’s beliefs, petitions, prosecution

The Nigerian anti-corruption campaign has recorded a dramatic surge in the sentence over the past 15 years, with the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) which has been securing unprecedented success in recent times.

Data from SBM Intel tracking petitions, prosecutions and sentences from 2010 to 2024 shows that while the agency struggles in the early years to change the investigation into a punishment, a sharp turnover from 2018 has seen the number of punishment rises to thousands of years each year.

This trend underlines both the public dependence that grows on EFCC and increase the efficiency of the agency, even when critics warn that systemic problems such as selective prosecution, bargaining -bargaining defense, and the delay of justice remains unresolved.

In all 15 years of dataset, EFCC has evolved from the body that struggles to get a two -digit sentence each year to routinely secure thousands. A stable increase in petition shows that Nigeria is increasingly turning to EFCC to report fraud and corruption, reflecting a higher public trust or increasing financial crime itself. Although the petition rose from under 7,000 in 2010 to more than 15,700 in 2023, the prosecution remained a small portion of the petition received.

2010-2014

In the first half of the last decade, the EFCC activity reflects a relatively slow but consistent prosecution effort. In 2010, the agent received 6,782 petitions and demanded 206 cases, only securing 68 sentences. The following year, the petition rose slightly to 7,737, but the number of sentences dropped slightly to 67 despite 417 prosecution.

In 2012 and 2013, both the petition and a steady prosecution, each with 4,914 and 6,089 petitions. The prosecution peaked in 502 in 2012, produced 87 sentences, while 2013 saw 485 prosecution with 117 punishments. Although the number of sentences is small compared to the petition received, they suggest a gradual increase in the results of the case. In 2014, the petition fell again to 4,941, with the prosecution also declined to 388, but the punishment pushed higher to 126.

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This five -year period highlighted the struggle of the agency to translate the petition into the prosecution and prosecution into the sentence. Punishment is under 130 years old, shows obstacles in case management and judicial processes.

2015-2019

Between 2015 and 2019, an increase in petitions and more aggressive EFCCs encourages more cases through the court. In 2015, 5,979 petitions entered, leading to 462 prosecution and 103 punishment. The following year saw a leap in the 7,045th petition, but more striking, prosecution skyrocketed to 4,660. Apart from this surge, the sentence remains relatively low in 182, reflecting the gap between volume and efficiency.

In 2017, the petition continued their climb to 8,251, the prosecution reached 5,662, but the sentence was only slightly higher to 189. The incompatibility between the increase in the burden of the case and the results reflect the structural limit of justice in handling corruption cases.

In 2018, the petition rose to 9,566, and the prosecution rose further to 5,795. The sentence more than doubled into 312, marking the first significant breakthrough in the EFCC belief rate. In 2019, the momentum was further accelerated: the petition reached 12,644, the prosecution jumped to 8,729, and the sentence rose to the record of 1,246.

2020-2024

In 2020, the petition amounted to 10,152. While the prosecution fell to 865, the punishment jumped to 1,305, beyond the prosecution for the first time. This reversal not only reflects efficiency but also the use of bargaining of fast defense and tracking cases.

In 2021, the petition was not reported, but EFCC demanded 2,254 cases and surprisingly secured 2,220 punishment, signifying a one-to-one ratio between prosecution and successful punishment. This trend continued in 2022, with 3,826 prosecution and 3,785 beliefs – the amount that suggested that never before, although critics argue that they can also reflect heavier dependence on negotiated settlement.

In 2023, the petition reached their highest level at 15,753. The prosecution stands at 3,175, exactly suitable with 3,175 punishment, underlines the almost perfect conversion rate. In 2024, EFCC received 15,724 petitions, demanded 5,083 cases, and ensured 4,111 punishment, maintaining high efficiency from recent years.

By: James Odunayo