The Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption, RoLAC, has reiterated its interest in supporting the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, in the areas of anti-corruption reform and capacity development for increased efficiency in the fight against corruption.
RoLAC’s National Programme Manager, Mr Danladi Plang, stated this when he led a team on a Courtesy Visit to the headquarters of the EFCC in Abuja recently.
Plang expressed satisfaction with the synergy between RoLAC and the EFCC which crystallized in the execution of a number of projects for the Commission. He listed some of the projects to include, support for the development of a strategic plan for the Commission and training programmes for various categories of staff in diverse areas including Corruption Risk Assessment that is currently ongoing.
He noted that though the European Union-funded project for justice sector reform and support to Anti-corruption Agencies is billed to end next year, RoLAC has the intention to further support the EFCC in development of E-Archive Application to improve information accessibility and support for human resources management.
RoLAC’s Anti-Corruption Manger, Emmanuel Uche, on his part, listed other areas of interest to include training of judges handling corruption cases and peer review meetings for states implementing the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, ACJA; organizing periodic meetings of heads of anti-corruption agencies for improved synergy and cooperation, and getting the EFCC to take greater interest in the Extractive industries Audit Report by NEITI as well as the Auditor General’s Report for possible enforcement action.
All of these activities, he said are geared towards enhancing performance indicators such as data assessment, cooperation, coordination among heads of agencies and mentoring programmes for staff.
In his response, the EFCC Chairman, Abdurasheed Bawa disclosed that the Commission under his leadership had done considerable work in the areas mentioned. “There is none of the issues you have mentioned that we have not done something about.
“I am a strong advocate of data and statistics; that is why we are working on the digitalization of our mode of operation,” he said.
Bawa also stated that the Commission was consciously positioning the Special Control Unit Against Money Laundering, SCUML, for critical corruption prevention role, bearing in mind that most proceeds of corruption were laundered through the sectors which SCUML superintends. “Eighty percent of the money laundering in Nigeria is in real estate. We want to equip SCUML to the extent that the awareness is there”, he said.
On the justice sector reform, the EFCC boss said the challenge of the Commission was not with the designation of judges. Rather, he explained that it was the frequent transfer of judicial officers that creates problems for the prosecution of corruption cases. “I have written to the judiciary to give priority to our cases and also assign more judges to prosecute our cases especially in Abuja, Lagos and Port Harcourt”.
Bawa concluded by inviting RoLAC to sponsor a Corruption Risk Assessment training programme at the EFCC Academy to enable more operatives of the Commission benefit as well as facilitate a technical advisor for Curriculum Development for the Academy.
Packaged by Emmanuel Okafor
