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. The training, which began on Tuesday, October 13, 2026, at the EFCC Academy in Karu, Abuja, is designed to strengthen the capacity of…...
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.
The training, which began on Tuesday, October 13, 2026, at the EFCC Academy in Karu, Abuja, is designed to strengthen the capacity of more than 30 operatives to investigate sophisticated financial crimes involving digital assets.
The EFCC announced the programme in a statement shared on its official X handle on Tuesday.
Speaking through the Acting Commandant of the EFCC Academy, Assistant Commander of the EFCC, Joseph Ogwiji, the commission’s Executive Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, said investigators must continually update their skills to keep pace with developments in digital finance.
“The increasing use of digital financial services and virtual assets require investigators to continually develop their knowledge and skills,” Olukoyede said.
“While these technologies support legitimate economic activity, they can also be exploited to facilitate fraud, transfer criminal proceeds and conceal the identities of those involved. Our response must be informed, technically competent and grounded in lawful investigative procedures,” he added.
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Olukoyede said investigators needed to understand transaction records, trace funds across different platforms and link digital evidence to individuals under investigation, particularly as financial crimes increasingly cross national borders.
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.
He said the training also marked the first anniversary of a memorandum of understanding signed between the EFCC and the Korean National Police Agency (KNPA) in Seoul, South Korea, in October 2025.
“I am especially pleased that our first programme in Africa is taking place here in Nigeria, a leading country in West Africa. And I am also very pleased to start this programme with the EFCC, one of Nigeria’s most respected law-enforcement institutions,” Hong said.
The agreement, signed by Olukoyede and the KNPA Deputy Commissioner General, Park Seong-Ju, provides for information exchange, sharing of best practices, capacity building, institutional strengthening, research collaboration and coordination on asset recovery.
Other areas of cooperation include public education, training exchanges, mutual support and broader international collaboration.
Leading the Korean delegation, Woosung Kwon of the Korean Police Investigation Academy, alongside Inspector Kim Sung Jae and Sergeant Jung Youngmo, thanked the EFCC management and organisers for their hospitality and cooperation.
Kwon said the growing use of digital tools by criminals had made international cooperation essential in investigating financial crimes.
“Financial crime is changing fast, criminals now use crypto, cross-chain tools, and the dark web to hide money….. we came to learn from your cases and your experience. Crypto crime has no borders, so our cooperation must have no borders, too,” he said.
He explained that participants would undertake practical sessions on open-source investigation techniques and cryptocurrency tracing, from identifying initial leads to seizing assets and preparing evidence for court.
The EFCC’s Head of External Cooperation, Aliyu Wali, said the training would improve investigators’ ability to trace and analyse virtual asset transactions.
“As financial crimes increasingly exploit virtual assets and emerging technologies, strengthening the capacity of our investigators to trace, analyse and investigate virtual asset transactions has become imperative,” Wali said.
He added that the programme would strengthen the commission’s efforts to tackle cyber-enabled financial crimes and recover proceeds of crime.
Wali, who spoke through Assistant Commander of the EFCC, Michael Kayang, urged participants to engage actively with their South Korean counterparts and apply the knowledge gained to their investigative duties.