The Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, has urged religious leaders across the country to continually preach the right religious doctrine to their followers.
It was reported that he gave the charge in Abuja on Wednesday, September 23, 2026, at the 2026 second Council Meeting of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC) and the launch of the Anti-Corruption Interfaith Manual for religious leaders.
He gave the charge in Abuja on Wednesday, September 23, 2026, at the 2026 second Council Meeting of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council, NIREC, and the launch of the Anti-Corruption Interfaith Manual for religious leaders.
In his paper presentation, he stated that the theme of the event “Shared Sacred Flourishing in Nigeria,” demands that stakeholders in the anti-corruption fight must recognize that the wellbeing of Nigerians is dependent on the actions of individual citizens and that acts of corruption create division in the shared flourishing. As such, one of the most consequential contributions religious leaders can make to shared sacred flourishing, he said, is to restore the moral dignity of honest living.
Corruption, he regretted, “privatizes what is shared, converts the commonwealth into private advantage, and allows one person to flourish by making many others poorer adding that the unique role of the EFCC, therefore, is to defend the integrity of that commonwealth.”
According to him, by preaching the right religious doctrines, both Christianity and Islam can retain their distinctive beliefs and traditions while their adherents work together for peace, justice, human dignity and the wellbeing of our nation.
To ensure that worship centres play transformational roles in the lives of Nigerians, the EFCC boss disclosed that the Commission began tasking religious leaders on the need to infuse anti-corruption contents in their messages to their followers.
“We have been doing this through the inter-faith framework. Over the years, we have specifically spelt out what should be the roles of religious leaders and the doctrine they need to pass down to their followers. We believe that no religion condones corruption and no faith entertains fraudulent engagements,” he stated.
Further in the endeavour, he disclosed that the EFCC over the years engaged leaders of both the Christian and Muslim faiths in fashioning an Inter-Faith Manual which captures the doctrinal positions of holy books on corruption.
“We are using this opportunity to launch the Manual which we hope our religious leaders will surely find useful in preaching anti-corruption messages to their members,” he said.