Since President Bola Ahmed Tinubu assumed office last year, he has never hidden his resolve to tackle graft which is a cardinal priority of his campaign agenda.
Perhaps, such necessitated the renewed vigour seen in the anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), under the leadership of Olanipekun Olukoyede.
In recent months, the agency under the new chairman has brought in new vision and impetus into the battle against sleaze.
In a country where corruption is always fighting back, the agency believes that determination is required in sustaining the crusade.
Much is expected from the lawyer, regulatory compliance consultant and specialist in fraud management and corporate intelligence, who had served the commission as Chief of Staff to the Chairman (2016-2018) and Secretary to the Commission (2018-2023).
Addressing officers of the Lagos Zonal Command of the EFCC in November last year, Olukoyede, who took over from Abdulrasheed Bawa, spoke about his vision and target.
He said: “There is need to redirect our focus towards what we were set up to do in Nigeria, which is to drive economic development. We will tilt our focus towards that area.
“We will work to drive economic development, create wealth and employment.”
Consequently, since charity begins at home, he charged the officers and men to declare their assets. Leading by example, Olukoyede declared his assets.
In Nigeria, the fight against corruption is not new. It has been on for decades. How to curb theft and graft has been a major concern from the sixties. It was a major reason the first and second republics crumbled like cookies. But corruption has lingered till today for obvious reasons.
The cankerworm would not have survived, if previous governments had tackled it with all seriousness and with appropriate strategies.
The starting point under Olukoyede was the reform of the anti-graft body to purge it of the peculiar societal vices. The revelation by the chairman was mind-boggling. In lamentation, Olukoyede, who visited President Bola Tinubu in Aso Villa, Abuja recently, disclosed that EFCC investigators were prone to gratification and bribery, thereby casting doubt on their capacity for thoroughness, probity and efficiency. It is ironic. But with that background knowledge, Olukoyede kicked off the battle from the agency.
The reasons are not far-fetched. A bribe taker is not less vicious and dubious than a giver because they are both enveloped by greed. It is a paradox, an anathema.
If those saddled with the investigation of financial crimes are fraudulent, the process and the outcome are laced with lies, prevarications, compromise, and hypocrisy.
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Olukoyede has not spared the rod to save dishonest investigators who have failed the test of integrity. He has intensified efforts to fish out the culprits and sent them packing, thereby preventing the few bad eggs from damaging the time-tested reputation of the agency beyond panel-beating.
The result is that bribe-taking investigators are not permitted to act as willing tools for frustrating investigations.
Also, the commission has asserted its independence. It is not strictly tied to the apron strings of the federal Attorney-General. Nigerians, particularly opposition elements, do not perceive it as an outfit of oppression and witch-hunting in the hands of the power that be.
In trying to maintain a clean break from the past, Olukoyede has rekindled public confidence.
Corruption is the bane of development in Nigeria.
It has taken its toll on the various sectors; it permeates all strata of society and made Nigeria a laughing stock in the comity of nations. Ironically, the proceeds of corruption are lodged in bank accounts in the Western countries.
According to observers, corruption manifests in various ways. From the culture of 10 per cent bribes in the sixties, successive governments have become big contracts for grabs.
Contracts are awarded to undeserving, shadow companies that cannot be traced in the past. Perpetrators later graduated into outright embezzlement, money laundering, a guarantee of salaries for ghost workers, and pension fraud. In high places, allegations of forex abuse, round-tripping and dubious acquisition of banks are still being investigated.
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More damaging is the growing humanitarian fraud. It was claimed that the school feeding programme was more effective during holidays when pupils were in their parents’ homes.
Also, reports of police corruption stare the public in the face. Some policemen openly ask for bribes on highways. They aid and abet crime, thereby sending their victims into agony.
In some states, governance has become business as usual, a peculiar tea party. Former governors, ministers, and top government functionaries are answering charges in court many years after leaving office.
They are in a vantage position to use looted funds to undermine investigation, prosecution, and the entire judicial process. Trials of suspects last a decade and a re-trial is ordered. The prosecutor is fatigued. The case is abandoned. It pales into a waste of time, energy, and public resources.
A Right Activist, Lanre Suraj said the key driver of corruption is greed. The corollary is kleptocracy, underscoring, the collapse of morality, growing indiscipline and the motivation for sabotage and subversion by custodian of public resources.
Many are those accumulating money for their offspring who would most likely mismanage the stolen wealth in the future. Also, the children of the poor who bear the brunt of corruption are now taking their pounds of flesh as troublers of the same society.
Their activities include armed robbery, banditry, kidnapping, and ritual murders. The corrupt gangs are not insulated from the threats to public order and peace.
There is a correlation between corruption and underdevelopment, particularly in Africa. As funds are diverted, project implementation suffers. It is a huge cost to welfare.
The repercussions are also grave. After their reckless looting, the leaders later forfeit blissful retirement and begin to attend courts, some of them at the twilight of life. Lack of contentment made them steal while in office.
In their old age, they do not have peace of mind. Their wealth becomes vanity. Those who have passed on left behind a legacy their children cannot be proud of.
“Is a good name not better than wealth acquired in a dubious way at the expense of society?” asked Suraj.
If looted funds are still being recovered from a deceased military Head of State to the tune of billions, almost 30 years after his demise, it is an indication of how soldiers of fortune have silently ruined Nigeria.
A novel form of corruption between 2003 and 2011 was election rigging, including alteration of results and declaration of losers as winners. The sanctity of the ballot box was violated. The scenario was a prelude to legitimacy crises in some states in the Southwest, the old Midwest, and the Southeast.
The impact of corruption on the image of the country is also serious. Foreign investors are wary of corrupt countries, which they perceive as a threat to business. In their opinion, an atmosphere devoid of bribery, misappropriation, or embezzlement contributes to the ease of doing business.
Many years after the setting up of the EFCC and Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), corruption has continued to grow in leaps and bounds. Yet, observers have contended that the situation would have been worse without the anti-graft agencies.
Beneficiaries of corruption are eager to jump at the opportunity provided by plea bargaining, which makes a thief who has stolen billions to redeem himself in court by paying pittance as fine, thereby escaping jail to continue to enjoy his loot in freedom.
According to a report titled: ‘Corruption in Nigeria: Patterns and Trends,’ by the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS), government officials received N721 billion bribe in 2023. The figure amounted to about 0.35 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product, GDP.
The report which was based on a survey conducted with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, stated that the average cash received by public office holders last year was N8, 284, an increase from an average of N5,754 in 2019.
The report added: “According to the 2023 survey, the average cash bribe paid was 8,284 Nigerian Naira.
“While the nominal average cash bribe size increased since 2019 (from NGN 5,754), this does not account for inflation. The inflation-adjusted average cash bribe in 2023 was 29 per cent smaller than in 2019 in terms of what could be bought with the money.
“Overall, it is estimated that a total of roughly N721 billion (US$1.26 billion) was paid in cash bribes to public officials in Nigeria in 2023, corresponding to 0.35 per cent of the entire Gross Domestic Product of Nigeria.”
For Olukoyede, corruption is the next deadliest affliction tormenting humanity, apart from terrorism.
He lamented that most of the former governors being prosecuted today were those who could not pay minimum wage. To expose more corrupt officials, he urged Nigerians to embrace whistle-blowing, adding that it should be backed by consistent commitment.
The EFCC chairman elaborated on his anti-corruption crusade at the stakeholders’ meeting held at the Unity Fountain in Abuja to commemorate this year’s African Anti-Corruption Day.
The highlight of the event was the ‘Road Walk’ by employees of the EFCC and other stakeholders in the anti-corruption corridor.
Olukoyede led the walk from the Wuse two, Zonal Office of the commission, through the streets of Maitama, before terminating at the Unity Fountain.
Speakers at the meeting also included, the representative of the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Vice Marshal Etim Markus; Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) Director-General, Controller of Nigerian Correctional Service, and Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
Painting an awful picture of gloom, he said urgent and concerted steps should be taken to kill corruption, adding: “Aside terrorism, corruption ranks as the next deadliest affliction of humanity in every region of the world.”
To stem the tide, the EFCC chairman said the battle should be embraced by all Nigerians as a collective responsibility. Olukoyede emphasised that the battle cannot be won through lip service, emotional outburst or mere mob campaigns.
He stressed: “There is a need for commitment, passion, consistence and credibility of intelligence. Every whistle blown must point towards truth and evidential proofs.”
The chairman said in view of the danger and threat to existence which corruption represents, it is imperative that individuals, communities and corporate bodies should join hands to tackle it frontally.
He emphasised that the fight against corruption required absolute commitment to integrity and unfaltering focus.
Olukoyede enjoined the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and civil society organisations to be part of the anti-graft war, saying that most of the governors being prosecuted today were those who denied workers their reward for labour.
Many stakeholders agreed that a successful battle against corruption can only be waged through joint efforts. NLC President Joe Ajearo said the union will fully support the EFCC in its fight.
The Chairperson, Conference of Civil Society and Coordinator Civil Military Co-operation (CIMCO), Adams Otakwu, commended the agency for galvanising Nigerians to stand against the menace.
He said: “It may interest us to know that upon all the threats to national security, inclusive of terrorism, insurgency, proliferation of small arms and light weapons, the most insidious of them is corruption and that is why the fight against corruption must be tackled head on.”
Apart from the challenges of the economy and security, many are of the view that President Bola Tinubu has to reinvigorate the anti-graft war in the national interest.
His administration has promised Nigerians many developmental and poverty-reducing programmes.
To analysts, the recovered looted public funds can be deployed to the implementation people-oriented programmes without recourse to borrowing.
Also, security experts believe that instead of looking forward to the arrest of corrupt officials, institutional frameworks for preventing sleaze should be strengthened in the public service. Loopholes should be effectively plugged, those who have stolen should not be allowed to go scot-free to mock Nigeria and what has been taken illegally should be retrieved from them.
Physical contact with cash should be discouraged in favour of automated processes and systems.
The step taken by the President in suspending his Humanitarian Affairs Minister, Beta Edu, over allegations of corruption is laudable. The anti-corruption battle should not be a respecter of persons, big or small.
It would serve as a deterrent to others to be more careful and imbibe the right values. Ministers, special advisers, other aides, and top civil servants are likely to adjust to the body language of the President, particularly his inclination towards tough measures against reckless financial activities.
Speedy prosecution of suspects in special courts or tribunals, and adequate punitive measures, including recovery of the looted funds, long jail terms, and a ban from politics, may be more effective.
But, media trial of suspects should be discouraged. The commission should uphold the core values of the EFCC, which include integrity, courage and professionalism.
There is a need to reduce corruption to the barest minimum because national survival and global reputation rest squarely on how far the country can go in the fight against graft.
Between October 2023, when Olukoyede was confirmed, and January this year, EFCC has recovered N70, 556,658,370.5.
In a document titled: ‘Operations and Recoveries,’ the recovery is as follows: N60,969,047,634.25, $10,522,778.57, £150,002.10, €4,119.90; bringing it to N70.5 billion within the first 100 days.
Within the same period, 3, 325 petitions were received, and 2,657 accepted; 747 persons were convicted for money laundering and internet fraud.
Olukoyede said that there would be no hiding place for economic saboteurs. Remarkably, EFCC has tried to crack down on businesses and others transacting in dollars. The chairman had also taken his sensitisation and enlightenment programmes to schools, urging students to shun cybercrimes.
A commentator, Ayodeji Seriki, believes Olukoyede will succeed, if he does not deviate from his vision and mission.
He said: “The three focal areas are: focus on the mandate of the EFCC, pursuit of transparency and accountability and building the image of Nigeria.
“To achieve these, he has dwelt on the need for collective responsibility, greater emphasis on preventive frameworks against graft and premium attention on transactional credits.”
