The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has reported that it has arrested more than 17,000 suspects of various financial crimes since its establishment 22 years ago.
This was made known by the EFCC’s spokesman, DCE Dele Oyewale, on Thursday when it organized a one-day sensitisation workshop for Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and members of the media at the Commission’s Kano Zonal Office.
Oyewale explained that even though the Commission has made many arrests and secured convictions, economic crimes remain on the rise because of systemic loopholes that need to be closed to protect Nigeria’s economy.
He explained that the EFCC, under the leadership of Ola Olukoyede, is playing a preventive role in monitoring and checking financial leakages in Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) and that corruption in Nigeria is almost 90 per cent through the procurement process.
With a paltry 5,000 employees nation-wide, the EFCC can by itself not effectively deal with corruption,” Oyewale stated. “The media and civil society must be measured, vigilant, and proactive in asking questions concerning issues of corruption. We have a shared mandate for accountability.”
Previously, the EFCC Acting Zonal Director in Kano, DCE Sa’ad Hanafi, addressed journalists and CSOs as “critical drivers of change and indispensable partners” to combat corruption, cybercrime, and cryptocurrency-related offences.
He warned that financial crimes are getting more sophisticated, graduating from traditional fraud to crafty, cyber-enhanced fraud that erodes economic stability and public trust.
Hanafi requested participants to think of the workshop as a working platform of cooperation and exchange of information, citing that “the fight against corruption is not personal but a national collective responsibility.”
The workshop included lectures on cryptocurrency crime, investigation techniques, prosecution processes, and counter-financial crime measures.
