Yakubu Dogara, Speaker of the House of Representatives has stressed the need for Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on the need to demonstrate courage in the prosecution of corruption cases in the country.
Dogara who gave the charge during a working visit to the newly constructed EFCC headquarters located at Idu district of Abuja, underscored the need for improved welfare package of EFCC officials who put their lives on the line in combating graft.
“I want to commend my brother, the acting Chairman of EFCC, we threw the challenge to him when we fist came so that anyone who comes to Nigeria that wants to access the investment we have made in combating corruption which has been like a song in this administration, will look st not only the individuals that are combating this hydra-headed monster but the facility.
“How we have empower them and the tools that we have delivered into their hands to be able to combat this very difficult scourge that we are having, very pervasive and very difficult to deal with,” he observed.
While stressing the need for the Commission to discharge its constitutional roles worthily, Dogara said:”It is not enough to have a state of art facility, I jokingly said that you don’t have any excuses.
“You can’t run away from the fact that we have delivered a state of art facility to the EFCC office. Except the Villa, I don’t think you can compare it with the facility we have at the National Assembly which is the first institution of democracy in this country.
“So you can see you are better equipped than the National Assembly. So the challenge therefore is that you should succeed more in implementing the laws that we’ve passed.
“And I have faith in the fact that that will be dome, so with this cutting-edge facility that has been delivered must be matched by cutting-edge services to be provided by your organization and we will make sure we hold you to that standard,” the Speaker admonished.
On his part, Kayode Oladele, chairman, House Committee on Financial Crimes who applauded the extent of work done so far, reiterated the commitment of the House and indeed the National Assembly towards ensuring adequate funding and human capacity development in the Commission.
“We have come here to look at the edifice and the extent of its completion.
“Coming to your question on the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) bill, again this is something that we have put behind us. National Assembly has passed the NFIU bill, and its been sent to the President for assent. We believe that as soon as possible it will be done.
“On the other area, I can tell you that the EFCC has never had it so good. This adminstration has the political-will, we have the commitment and we have the wherewithal to push through our war against corruption and as you can see, the first thing we said we should do, which we have done is to ensure that they are properly funded.
“And as I said elsewhere, about lack of funding, we are doing it. In every other area of institutional framework, we are building the institution and also trying to empower the manpower to ensure that they have the proper training not just the building,” Oladele noted.
