The Supreme Court has affirmed the final forfeiture of N1.582 billion linked to a former National Coordinating Consultant of the Nigerian Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL), Steve Ogidan, to the federal government.
The decision, delivered on 19 June by a five-member panel led by a judge, Habeeb Abiru, upheld an earlier judgement of the Court of Appeal, which sustained the forfeiture order issued by the Federal High Court in Abuja.
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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), in a statement shared on Monday by its Head of Media and Publicity, Dele Oyewale, stated that the Supreme Court found Mr Ogidan’s appeal to be without merit and dismissed it.
The court also ordered the former consultant to pay N5 million to the EFCC as the cost of the action.
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Mr Abiru noted that Mr Ogidan and others linked to the case had earlier returned the disputed funds as part of an out-of-court settlement, a development the court said further reinforced the trial court’s decision to order the final forfeiture.
The case followed an EFCC investigation, which the commission said uncovered reasonable grounds to suspect that the N1.582 billion represented proceeds of unlawful activities.
The agency alleged that Mr Ogidan received bribes from consultants he was engaged to monitor and supervise while serving as NIRSAL’s National Coordinating Consultant.
Based on its findings, the EFCC approached the Federal High Court in Abuja through its lawyer, Ndeh Isotu, seeking the forfeiture of the funds.
On 5 February 2024, Judge I. E. Ekwo granted an interim forfeiture order, which was later made final.
Mr Ogidan challenged the decision at the Court of Appeal, arguing that the trial court wrongly relied on Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act in ordering the forfeiture of the money to the Federal Government.
However, in a unanimous judgement delivered on 20 June 2025 after hearing the appeal on 10 April 2025, the Court of Appeal, led by Okon Abang, dismissed the appeal and affirmed the forfeiture.
The Supreme Court has now upheld that judgement, bringing the legal challenge to an end.
The EFCC said its investigation also showed that between December 2015 and June 2021, eight companies linked to Mr Ogidan received a combined N9.6 billion from NIRSAL. The companies are Successory Nigeria Limited, Beresh Consulting Limited, Blue Accord Nigeria Limited, Global Knowledge Consulting Limited, Freshvine Agribiz Limited, Richtigen Limited, O Stevens Consulting, and Proteus and Enterprise Aesthetics.
READ ALSO: Appeal Court upholds permanent forfeiture of recovered N1.5 billion bribery proceeds
Background
NIRSAL was established by the Central Bank of Nigeria to encourage lending to the agricultural sector by reducing the risks faced by financial institutions. In recent years, however, the agency has come under scrutiny over consultancy payments and contract awards made between 2015 and 2021.
The forfeiture case involving Mr Ogidan is one of the high-profile cases arising from the EFCC’s investigation into those transactions.
The anti-graft agency has maintained that some of the payments made to consultants and companies linked to them were proceeds of corrupt practices, an allegation that has now been upheld by the country’s highest court in relation to the N1.582 billion forfeiture.
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