The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has formally requested that Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) collaborate on tracking the mismanagement and diversion of funds tied to American government-backed programmes. The request was made during a visit by FBI officials to the EFCC's Lagos zonal office on Thursday.
Dele Oyewale, the EFCC's head of media and publicity, confirmed the request in a statement on Friday. He said Marcus Maccain, assistant law enforcement attaché of the FBI, raised the matter in person during the visit, where he met with acting zonal director Bawa Kaltungo.
Why the FBI is raising concerns now
Maccain told EFCC officials that the visit was meant to deepen cooperation over alleged financial irregularities involving organisations that received money under programmes funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The focus of the investigation, he said, would be funds set aside specifically for HIV and tuberculosis interventions.
He explained that when the US government wound down several USAID programmes in 2025, questions arose about what happened to money that remained in the hands of implementing organisations after the programmes were shut down. Some of those organisations, he said, were suspected of misusing or redirecting the funds before the programmes were formally ended.
Jeremy Kennon, a special agent with the Office of Inspector General at the US Department of State, was also part of the delegation. He said the US and Nigerian governments had previously entered an agreement to support HIV and tuberculosis work in Nigeria, channelling money through organisations that ran treatment centres, including one-stop HIV care facilities.
Irregularities found in Kano and other states
Kennon said subsequent reviews flagged concerns over inflated budgets and other irregularities in Kano and several other Nigerian states, and noted that similar concerns extended beyond Nigeria. The Trump administration brought USAID to a close in July 2025, ending more than six decades of global development work carried out under the agency.
The FBI was looking to build a lasting working relationship with the EFCC, including an arrangement for sharing information in both directions, according to Kennon.
EFCC commits to full investigation
Kaltungo received the delegation on behalf of EFCC chairman Ola Olukoyede. He described the partnership between Nigeria and the United States as one with deep roots in law enforcement cooperation and assured the FBI team that the commission would pursue the allegations across every state where the affected organisations operated, tracing how funds moved through to their final recipients.
The EFCC's commitment signals a broad investigation that could affect multiple states, with the commission vowing to follow the money trail to its final recipients.
