Forensics institute can become major foreign exchange earner for Nigeria – DG

By Maureen Okon

The Directorate of Technical Aid Corps (DTAC) says the Chartered Institute of Forensics and Certified Investigation of Nigeria (CIFCFIN) can become a major foreign exchange earner for the country.

Director-General of the directorate, Dr Yusuf Yakub, said this when he received in his office in Abuja, a six-man delegation from the institute.

“What we do here is to deploy soft power diplomacy to Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific nations. And we have not stopped there.

“There is no longer a bilateral thing as we have gone triangular because we also deploy to some international organisations.

“For instance, the United Nations Development Programme presently has some volunteers in New York.

“We are not stopping there because other countries that are not covered by our Act (establishment) are also requesting that they be carried along, and by the grace of God we will amend the Act and we will cover the rest of the world.

“Nigeria, as far as I am concerned, is a superpower in Africa, and in the future, it will be a superpower globally.

“So we are going to expand our scope, not only to cover Africa but to cover the rest of the world,” he said.

He thanked the delegation for the visit and expressed appreciation to it for what it is doing for Nigeria, not only by providing forensic services in fighting corruption but by positioning itself to become a major foreign exchange earner to the country in the near future.

Speaking earlier, Dr Ibrahim Gashinbaki, the pioneer President and Chairman Governing Council of the institute, said CIFCFIN was the only chartered professional body with a multi-sectoral mandate to advance and promote the practice of forensics and fraud investigation in Nigeria.

Gashinbaki said that the Act establishing the institute was signed into law in Dec. 2022, with powers and functions covering laboratory forensic analysis for law enforcement agencies, government institutions, and the private sector.

Other powers and functions of the institute are training, supervision, and regulation of the practice of Forensic and Fraud Investigation in Nigeria.

According to him, such powers and functions give the institute the authority to develop a practical understanding of the areas of knowledge and skills essential to the forensic and fraud investigation profession.

He added that the powers available to the agency empower the institute to establish the Nigerian College of Forensic and Fraud Investigators (NCFF) which is mandated to offer training, development, certification, standardisation, and regulation of members and eligible persons in the area.

Another function the powers have enabled the institute to perform is the establishment of Forensic Analysis Laboratories with a multi-disciplinary capacity.

They include but are not limited to document forensic laboratory; digital and cyber forensics; document forensic laboratory, and Medical Forensic Laboratory.

He said Nigeria would soon become an exporter of forensic agents to other countries of the world in view of the different categories of forensic laboratories already established in the country.   (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Modupe Adeloye/Emmanuel Yashim