Corruption - NEWS AGENCY OF NIGERIA

Rabi'u Sani Ali
Dec, Thu, 2024

Kano unveils anti-corruption strategy

74 total views today

By Muhammad Nur Tijani

Kano state government has unveiled an Anti-Corruption Strategy (2024–2028), a comprehensive framework aimed at tackling corruption and promoting integrity.

The event was conducted with support of the European Union-funded Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption (RoLAC) Programme Phase II, being implemented by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA).

The event coincided with the 2024 International Anti-Corruption Day (IACD), whuch has as its theme: “Uniting with Youth Against Corruption: Shaping Tomorrow’s Integrity.”

The theme of the event highlights the vital role young people play as catalysts for change in the fight against corruption.

Gov. Abba Kabir-Yusuf undetscored the importance of addressing corruption, describing it as a cancer that erodes trust, undermines institutions, and hampers progress.

“Protecting human rights is at the heart of our administration’s agenda. We are committed to blocking systemic linkages, investigating corruption, and ensuring value for public funds,” he said.

Ibrahim Bello, RoLAC Coordinator in the state, reaffirmed commitment of the EU to support anti-corruption reforms in Nigeria.

“The European Union and International IDEA remain steadfast in their partnership with Nigeria to promote good governance, transparency and accountability. This strategy demonstrates what can be achieved through collective efforts.

“The governor is a formidable partner in the fight against corruption in the state. He has shown unwavering commitment by working with development partners to ensure a corruption free state,” he said.

The event featured debates, sensitisation and discussion sessions, aimed at fostering strong collaboration among stakeholders. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Bashir Rabe Mani

Philip Daniel Yatai
Nov, Fri, 2024

General News

Corruption: Stakeholders advocate sub-regional whistleblowing approach in West Africa

122 total views today

By Daina Umueza/Angela Atab

Stakeholders in the anti-corruption sector have called for the adoption of a unified sub-regional whistleblowing approach to strengthen efforts in tackling corruption in West Africa.

The stakeholders at a two-day Sub-regional Conference on Whistle Blowing and Whistleblower Protection in West Africa, said the move was imperative as corruption continues to undermine governance and public trust in many countries.

The conference with the theme “Reducing Corruption in West Africa: The Importance of Whistleblowing and Whistleblower Protection Legislations”, was organised by the African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL) with partners in Abuja.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that the experts argued that a coordinated, cross-border framework would provide stronger protections for whistleblowers, promote accountability, and create an environment where corruption is less likely to thrive.

Mr Cheikh Toure, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Representative to Nigeria, said the protection of whistle-blowers was repeatedly referred to as one of the most effective tools to prevent, detect and ultimately prosecute corruption cases.

Toure, who was represented by Ms Princess Chifiero, UNODC’s Project Coordinator for Anti-corruption, said that Article 33 of the United Nations Convention against Corruption required States parties to protect whistleblowers and urged States to implement it.

“Today’s sub regional conference is therefore very timely and is perfectly in line with the worldwide recognition of the importance of whistleblowers in the fight against corruption, and the need to protect them effectively.

“We therefore hope that this conference will be fruitful and enriching, and that it will also represent a first step for Nigeria and other West African countries, to adopt a law dedicated to the protection of the whistleblower,” the UNODC representative said.

Also, Mr Olanipekum Olukayode, Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), said that whistleblowing was a critical aspect of fighting corruption because 70 per cent of the anti-corruption work was based on intelligence.

Olukayode, represented by his Chief of Staff, Mr Michael Nzekwe, however said that unfortunately there was no legal framework and accurate data to strengthen the policy.

According to him, the Commission only works within its policies guiding whistleblowing.

He said that this was deterring Nigerians from blowing the whistle and encouraged them to be patriotic, shelve the selfish quest for incentives alone and embrace the policy while anticipating the law.

“If you see something, say something, and when you are saying something, say it very loud and make sure that what you are saying is very credible that we can work with.

“I hope that at the end of this particular conference, there will be a lot more changes in the lack of comprehensive legislation, the challenges faced by the whistleblower like victimaisation among others.

“One of the key takeaways from here would be to try to facilitate the legislators and do whatever it will take to see that this law comes to protect whistleblowers, tackle corruption and Nigeria and the West African region would benefit,” the commission’s chairman said.

In his remarks, Dr Kole Shettima, MacArthur Foundation’s Director in Nigeria, said that the body was supporting the anti-corruption fight to improve the accountability mechanism in Nigeria and promote behavioural change.

“Last year, the National Bureau of Statistics did a survey, a population survey about norms and values in Nigeria.

“Behavioural change is critically important in addressing corruption.

“We try to support faith leaders, we also work with our entertainment industry to promote good behaviour and of course, we also do a lot of work around the criminal justice system.

“Our work has been primarily in Nigeria, but AFRICMIL urged us to go beyond Nigeria because Nigeria is part of a wider ecosystem, so we are deciding to extend to the West African region and beyond.

In his remarks, Dr Chido Onumah, Coordinator of AFRICMIL, said that the Centre decided to go beyond Nigeria in terms of harnessing the capacity of organisations and institutions to enhance the whistleblowing advocacy working with the African Union (AU) and ECOWAS.

“If you have institutions and organisations that are tackling corruption nationally, sub-regionally, and continentally, it means therefore, that it is important that we raise the issue of whistleblowing, not just nationally, but sub-regionally and continentally.

“So, this is our first step in expanding the conversation around whistleblowing,” he said.

Onumah said that in the West African region, Ghana was the only country that had a whistleblowing law for protecting reporters of wrongdoing.

He said that the conference was aimed to draw attention of governments, not just in Nigeria, but other countries in the sub-region, that were yet to make laws to protect whistleblowers, that now was the time.(NAN)

Edited by Bayo Sekoni

Ismail Abdulaziz
Nov, Tue, 2024

General News

EFCC dismisses 2 staff over alleged corruption

222 total views today

By Taiye Agbaje

The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr Ola Olukoyede, on Monday, said two of the agency’s staff members were dismissed over allegation of corruption.

Olukoyede disclosed this during the opening of the 6th Annual Criminal Law Review Conference organised by the Rule of Law Development Foundation in Abuja.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the 5-day event is titled: “Optimising the Administration of Criminal Justice in Nigeria: How to Navigate Emerging and Systemic Challenges of Insecurity and Economic Hardship.”

The EFCC chairman, who said the two officials were dismissed two week ago, said besides dismissal, erring workers would also be prosecuted henceforth.

“So many other reforms are going on; the issue of our staff and all of that.

“Just two weeks ago, I have cause to dismiss two staff. You can’t be fighting corruption and your hands are dirty.

“He who comes to equity, your hands must also be cleaned. .

“And I say I will not only be dismissing them, I will also be prosecuting them because that is what we prosecute others for.

“So you will see that; we are preparing the case files of some of the people we have dismissed.

“If an EFCC staff will not be able to stand publicly with his two hands up and challenge the entire public; whose goat have I collected? Whose bottle of water have I taken illegitimately?

“And I have said this to Nigerians; who has ever given me one kobo in the course of my work, come out and say it. I stand to be challenged.

“I can’t be easily influenced by things like that. That’s why we must make up our minds to work together to do the right thing.

“Any staff that is corrupt, I will show you the way out.

“Again, there are some people who may want to be overzealous. Out of 12, you must have Judas. I can’t stand here and say all is perfect. As many as you see, report them to us and we will do justice,” he said.

Olukoyede said even he was once subjected to investigation for two years as EFCC secretary.

“I am not just sitting there as chairman of EFCC. I have been on the other side.

“I have been subjected to investigation myself for two years. So I know what it means to subject people to investigations.

“My major objective is to use the instrumentality of this mandate to stimulate the economy and to also follow the rule of law,” he said.

He said integrity is needed to survive, even as legal practitioners.

“Integrity is not about law, it is not about your advocacy ability to write beautiful briefs. No.

“It is about law and morality. Your conscience must tell you to do the right thing. That is what integrity is all about.

“Finally, ethics, value and standard of legal practice must also be reviewed.

“These are essential to me because the job of EFCC is to ensure that corruption does not find space in our national life,” he said.

Olukoyede said he welcomed constructive criticism of the agency.

“I have never been averse to that. But let us do it in a responsible way. What do we benefit from running down our institutions?” he asked.

According to him, if you notice EFCC is doing anything wrong, come to us.

“We will sit down and I will explain some reformed agenda we are carrying out.

“Upon my resumption of office, we have put some reformed agenda in place.

“We have reviewed our arrest and detention policy. I have had cause to investigate a whole ministry; minister, directors and all of that without detaining anybody over night.

“And I got all the information I needed and the matter is going on fine without detaining a single soul.

“But that does not preclude that if there is the need to detain, we do not detain.

“We have also had cause to equip all our interrogation rooms in compliance with judgment of court.

“Also, I need to let you know that the era of a 100-count charge, 150-count charge, 85-count charge is gone forever in EFCC,” he said.

Olukoyede said he had given a standing directive that no prosecution should be more than a 15-count charge.

“If your case is water tight…, that is why I will never rush to court until I am sure of my proof of evidence.

“I vet case files myself, particularly high-profile cases and the lawyer must give me a draft of the charge.

“We will look at it together, compared with my proof of evidence, sleep over it before I give my go-ahead.

“If we are losing a case, it shouldn’t be on grounds of lack of diligent prosecution.

“If there are other technical issues, fine. But I will be sure that I have done my job and it’s done in such a way that I can defend long after I leave office,” he said.

Mr Joseph Daudu, the Coordinator of the Rule of Law Development Foundation, said the Criminal Law Review Conference commenced six years ago as one of the flagship events of the foundation.

He said it was essentially to provide an annual forum for the review of all developments, particularly novel developments in the field of crime apprehension, crime prosecution, crime adjudication and the important activities of the post adjudicatory processes and institutions of the criminal justice system.(NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

edited by Sadiya Hamza

isaac aregbesola
Nov, Wed, 2024

Defence/Security

EFCC links frequent national grid collapse to corruption

276 total views today

Mr Ola Olukoyede, the Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has attributed the frequent collapse of national grid to activities of corrupt contractors.

The EFCC boss said this while receiving members of the House of Representatives Committee on Financial Crimes during an oversight visit to the commission’s headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday.

Olukoyede, who expressed concern that financial crimes and corruption undermined the nation’s development, added that dubious practice was a major cause of frequent equipment failures, outages and grid collapses.

According to him, one of the problems of this country in the last 15 years to 20 years is that budget performance is always below 20 per cent.

He said that some of the electricity companies bought substandard goods to run the electricity, and this had been responsible for the frequent collapses of the national grid.

He lamented poor implementation and execution of capital projects in the country, saying that Nigeria can not achieve infrastructural or any form of growth under such conditions.

“Investigations carried out by the EFCC showed that contractors in the power sector, who were awarded projects to supply electrical equipment, often opted for substandard materials.

“As I am talking to you now, we are grappling with electricity. If you see some of the investigations we are carrying out within the power sector, you will shed tears,” he said.

He also said that the commission discovered that in the last 20 years, capital project implementation and execution in the country were not up to 20 per cent.

“If we do not do that, how do you want to have infrastructural development? How do you want to grow as a nation?

“Our mandate this year is to work with the National Assembly to see if we can meet up to 50 per cent of our execution of our capital project for the year.

“If we do 50 per cent, we will be fine as a nation. Lack of implementation of this capital budget is one of our major problems in Nigeria,” he said.

The EFCC boss called for collective efforts and partnership with all stakeholders to win the battle against corruption in the country.

He emphasised the need for effective collaboration between the lawmakers and the commission in achieving the commission’s mandate of fighting corruption.

According to him, both the committee members and the EFCC are mandated to tackle the menace of financial crimes and corruption, with the goal of advancing the country.

“The mandate before you, which is also before us, if managed effectively and efficiently, will be remembered by Nigerians in the long term.

“This is one of the major challenges undermining our development in Nigeria. Tackling financial crimes and corruption effectively is a responsibility before you as well as the EFCC.

“It is therefore appropriate for us to work together,” Olukoyede said.

Earlier, the chairman of the committee, Hon. Ginger Onwusibe, lauded the achievement of the agency.

Onwusibe said that the committee was at the commission as part of its oversight functions, aimed at monitoring the performance of ministries, departments, and agencies.

He expressed the committee’s readiness to assist the EFCC through legislation and budget allocations.

He urged the commission to enhance its operational skills, ensure accountability, address challenges, and work closely with other agencies, donors, and development partners.(NAN)

======
Edited by Kadiri Abdulrahman

Philip Daniel Yatai
Nov, Sat, 2024

Defence/Security

Curbing corruption requires capacity, collaboration of all – EFCC Chairman

258 total views today

By Sumaila Ogbaje

Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr Olanipekum Olukayode, has underscored the need for collaboration and capacity building of security agencies to tackle corruption.

Olukayode said this during the graduation of the Executive Leadership and Strategic Management Course, Batch 5/2024, of the Nigerian Army Resource Centre (NARC), on Friday in Abuja.

Represented by the Secretary to the Commission, Mr Mohammad Hamman-Joda, the EFCC boss emphasised the importance of training senior managers in security agencies as key to curbing corruption in the country.

He reiterated the commitment of the commission to continue to train to be ahead of the criminals, who are always trying to advance.
According to him, there are a lot of innovations in terms of crime, particularly crypto-currency.

“So, we have to up our game to catch them, if not, we will be left behind.
“We have trained a total of 100 participants from the EFCC, along with other participants from sister security agencies, Department of State Security, DSS, Defense Intelligence Agency, DIA and Nigerian Army amongst others,” he said.

Olukayode said that the training was conducted in five batches, with participants drawn from senior and middle cadres of the commission.

He expressed the hope that the knowledge gained would impact positively on operations of the EFCC while appreciating NARC for the wealth of experience they shared.

“We look forward to more collaboration in the future,” he said.

The EFCC boss expressed condolences to President Bola Tinubu, the Nigerian Army and Nigerians on the death of Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja.

The Director-General of NARC, retired Maj.-Gen. Garba Wahab, said the course was designed to bring participants from the security architecture together to understand themselves and the challenges ahead.

Wahab said the training would also enhance the level of collaboration and cooperation between the security agencies saddled with the responsibility of fighting corruption for better performance.

According to him, the solution to Nigeria’s problems lies with them, and the solutions must come from them.

“Joint training is the way forward, so that everybody will know their strengths and weaknesses and understand each other.

“Somewhere along the line, it is not possible for one agency to solve the security situation they are facing, not only in Nigeria, anywhere in the world.

“Above all, reach across boundaries and borders to make friends, socialise, network and that is one of the challenges it brings to the participants,” Wahab said. (NAN)

Edited by Ifeyinwa Okonkwo and Yakubu Uba