Embrace KYC, Olukoyede Tasks Property Developers

The Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ola Olukoyede has tasked real estate developers on the need to do background checks on real estate investors to ascertain the legitimacy of their sources of income.

He stated this on Wednesday, August 6, 2025 at an event tagged “Policy Dialogue on Critical Issues Affecting Nigeria’s Real Estate Ecosystem,” held in Aso Hall of Abuja Intercontinental Hotel. The event, an initiative of Law Corridor, was a solution-driven conversation that brought together key regulators, public officials, private sector leaders, legal experts and real estate development actors for the evaluation of the systemic failures and fashion policy responses that can position the sector on the paths of transparency and growth.

Speaking of the topic “Tackling Illegal Property Sales, Fake Developers and Unlicenced Agents,” Olukoyede stated that, “By virtue of empirical things we have gathered and some of the things we have seen, statistics and reports, we discover that the issue of money laundering is very rampant among real estate developers and stakeholders in the sector. As a developer, the first thing that must come to your mind is that you have to do KYC (Know Your Customer). Even if the law has not made it mandatory for you to do it, in the interest of your business and for the survival of your business, do it. It doesn't cost you anything. At the press of a button on the public media space you can get basic information about virtually everybody in Nigeria. Why you don't do it is because you feel you will scare your potential customers or prospective customers. Don't forget the legal principle of accessory before and after the fact of a crime. So, if somebody steals money and uses it to buy property from you and we trace that money to you, we will recover it from you, because you can't sit on the proceeds of crime. The moment we establish it and prove it that this money was stolen. We will follow it, trace it, recover it. We will take money back from you. So please do KYC in the interest of your business.”

He emphasized that the EFCC will work in partnership with real estate players who play by the rules and ensure that their businesses grow. “One of the key concepts of my operational strategy upon my assumption of office is to use the instrumentality of the EFCC mandate to stimulate the economy. There is no way the fight against corruption will succeed if the economy is destroyed. So, we encourage investors like you; we encourage developers like you by always telling you to do the right thing. Real estate is one of the key areas we are looking up to for the rapid development of our economy. It should be important to encourage people like you, but always play by the rules if you want your business to succeed. The trend I've noticed in Nigeria in real estate development and business is that a lot of you just go into it without knowing anything about the rules and regulations that ggovern the sector. Let us always understand that to every business there are applicable rules and it's very much in the interest of the stakeholders that the rules should be followed. The difference between our country and developed countries where things work is just compliance to rules. That's what we are lacking here. And when you see some of the people who have succeeded in business in this part of the world, you discover that they follow the rules. Not 100 percent, but they try as much as possible to do the right thing,” he said.

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