By Isaac Aregbesola

 The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have strengthened their partnership towards tackling the old and emerging crimes that are of mutual interests to Nigeria and the United States. .

FBI’s Director, Christopher Wray, said this on Friday when he led a team of the Bureau’s top officials on a visit to the EFCC’s Executive Chairman, Mr Ola Olukoyede in Abuja.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the two agencies have strengthened their partnership on a renewed strategic alliance against crimes.

Wray, in his remarks, expressed delight at the bond that had existed over the years between the EFCC and FBI and called for upscaling in the face of common crime threats that confront Nigeria and the U.S.

“Thank you for your hospitality and in particular, for the partnership that exists between the FBI and the EFCC across a wide range of threats that we face together.

”We have had a relationship over the years and this is a reflection of how stronger than ever we are looking forward to taking our partnership to higher and higher levels in tackling threats that affect the people of Nigeria and the people of the United States.

”We have had close partnerships in shared values and focus and I want to say thank you for the wonderful partnership,” he said.

Responding, Olukoyede appreciated the FBI  for being the EFCC’s personnel and institutional capacity building benefactor over the years and expressed optimism that the collaboration between the two agencies  would be taken a notch higher.

“We value the partnership between the EFCC and FBI. Over the years, this partnership has existed and it is for mutual benefits.

”We have to acknowledge that we have benefitted from your manpower and capacity development programmes, which have added value to the capacity of our operatives and our Academy.

”We also want to thank you for the technical support that you have provided over the years for the EFCC and by extension, Nigeria,” he said.

Olukoyede requested that the collaboration and strategic partnership between two agencies should be strengthened in mutual interest of Nigeria and the US, especially as criminality has become borderless.

“Some of the crimes we fight are borderless crimes, so it is extremely important for law enforcement agencies across the world to come together to collaborate.

”Law enforcement agencies must collaborate more. Our activities must be borderless so that we will be able to challenge the activities of the bad guys,” he said.

 He assured Wray and his team of the Commission’s commitment to collaboration with the American agency.

Olukoyede noted that achieving the shift in paradigm in the operations of the commission called for new dynamism and mechanisms in the tools of the anti-corruption fight.

“The major thrust is to use the instrument of prevention to tackle corruption in the country.

”The EFCC has done well over the years in the areas of investigation and prosecution, but upon my assumption of office, I decided to look at the sources and causes of these problems.

 ”We will not just enforce but also look at prevention, since it is also within our mandate. So, we decided to set up a new department, called Fraud Risk Assessment and Control,” he said.

 He expressed optimism that contract and procurement fraud would soon be a thing of the past.

According to him, the commission is going to ensure e-procurement in the entire nation so that it would be easy to track the execution of projects.

“That is one of the key innovations we have brought into our activities and we are really going to follow it through.”

Other officials on the FBI delegation include: Charles Smith Jnr, Sydney Schaur, Joshua James Moldt, William Michael Miller, Vanessa M. Tibbits, William B. Stevens, Leigha Ramson, Sofie Admire Sosenzweig and Dr. Jim Oscar.(NAN) www nannews.ng

Edited by Deji Abdulwahab