EFCC says corruption in government alarming despite crackdown

..as UK partners CBN, NFIU to track illicit flows

Corruption is still a huge enterprise in Nigeria as theft of public resources across all levels of government remains a grave concern, Ola Olukoyede, chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has said.

Speaking in Abuja at the Agora Policy Conversation on the State of the Anti-Corruption Policy and Practice in Nigeria, Olukoyede said since the emergence of democratic governance, the anti-graft fight has delivered major gains but corrupt practices are still prevalent with a number of issues encumbering efforts.

One of those issues, he said, include public cynicism – a major morale dampener for anti-graft officials.
Other are: security of tenure of anti-corruption agency heads with implication for the independence of the agencies; lack of prosecution of high profile corruption cases; non-sustenance of accountability reforms in the public sector, among others.

“We are not likely to make the kind of impact envisaged until these challenges are addressed.

“We must also examine the ease with which public officers are able to siphon humongous sums from the public without any warning systems,” he stated.

The EFCC chair also thinks that Nigeria may need to develop its own home grown strategies to fight corruption rather than copy from other jurisdictions.

“Over the years we have focused on borrowing best practices from mother nations but real solutions to our corruption problem lies in adapting measures drawn from our unique experiences.”

The event, which held to commemorate this year’s international anti-corruption day, focused on taking stock of the country’s fight against corruption in a holistic and inter-generational way.

Olukoyede noted that the EFCC’s work has not only fought
corruption but proceeds recovered in the process has helped to stimulate the economy and support critical social investment initiatives.

He noted that the funds have been partly deployed by the federal government to finance the students loan and consumer credit schemes, which, according to him, could help reduce the penchant for criminality by vulnerable Nigerians.

In his remarks, Richard Montgomery, British high commissioner to Nigeria, noted a series of international evidence showing how corruption is “incredibly corrosive and damaging” as perpetrators divert public resources, perpetuates poverty, raises the cost of doing business and breeds distrust between people and their governments.

He said that it is on this score that the UK’s National Crime Agency has partnered with the Central Bank of Nigeria and with Nigeria’s Financial Intelligence Unit on tracking illicit flows.

He acknowledged NEITI’s work on providing transparency and better information on licensing and revenue expenditure across the extractive industries and the oil sector, noting that more needs to be done to attract needed investments.

He also highlighted other challenges which are exacerbated by international financial systems in aiding illicit financial flows across borders.

According to him, the UK is also not ‘blameless’ as its financial sector has consistently ranked among top 15 countries for the Global Financial Secrecy Index, which implies that it is enabling a permissive environment for illicit financial flows.

“It implies we are undermining the integrity of our own markets. And we need to do more to address the financial vulnerabilities in our systems in the UK as well as in other countries,” Montgomery added.

In his keynote address, Adele Jinadu, a professor of political science, blamed the general democratic governance and development crisis in Nigeria on political corruption.

According to him, the connection between democratic politics and legal culture is gravely absent in the country and has nurtured and continues to feed a pervasive culture of impunity across all facets of institutional life in the state and entire society.

He added that prevalent political interference, primarily to shield high-profile persons from criminal prosecution or frustrate their prosecution has impacted negatively on the country’s anti-corruption agenda, despite the establishment of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy(NACS).

As a result, the country’s national anti-corruption strategies and policy measures have neither significantly dented nor prevented the deepening of grand larceny in the country, he added.

“While the prevalence of administrative, mainly low-value, bribery has decreased, survey results suggest that the government’s anti-corruption agenda, which tends to be focused on large-scale corruption, has only marginally affected this type of bribe seeking behaviour,” he noted, quoting a 2021 study by the National Bureau of Statistics.