The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC has been commended for making impressive gains in the fight against economic and financial crimes.
President Bola Tinubu who made the commendation also called for more vigorous and robust efforts in tackling the monster of corruption.
Tinubu gave the commendation in Abuja while declaring open the 5th Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC- National Judicial Institute, NJI Capacity Building Workshop for Justices and Judges.
Represented by the country’s Attorney General and Minister of Justice Lateef Fagbemi, the President said, there are profound gains already made in the fight against corruption and the EFCC played remarkable roles in achieving them.
“For instance, available records show that EFCC has continued to achieve significant milestones in securing convictions and asset recovery running into billions of naira. There have also been significant improvements in the policy and legal frameworks for combating corruption with the National Anti-Corruption Strategy Plan and new legislations against money laundering, illicit financial flow and terrorism financing”.
President Tinubu noted the devastating effects of corruption on the growth of the nation and called for multi-sectoral and multifaceted approaches to tackling them, placing emphasis on synergy and inter-agency collaboration as potent weapons of attack against the monster.
“Corruption and related financial crimes have become a menace in our national life and have in consequence attracted poor perception index rating for Nigeria globally. It requires concerted collaborative efforts to effectively combat it”.
The President, while commending the efforts of successive leadership of the EFCC and NJI for sustaining the anti-graft war, charged judicial officers to be more passionate and courageous in carrying out their assignments to rid the nation of corrupt practices.
Also, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Olukayode Ariwoola noted that the judiciary as an arbiter between parties, has continued to live up to expectations and called on judges to be more proactive in resolving lingering cases of corruption across the courts.
He called for more focus on dispensing justice without allowing legal technicalities to stand in the way of the right adjudication of cases.
“Judges must be proactive by not allowing technicalities to stand against substantive justice’’.
The Acting Chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Abdulkarim Chukkol, emphasized the collaborative efforts of the EFCC with the NJI stressing that “to effectively fight the menace of corruption and economic and financial crimes, the symbiotic relationship between the EFCC and the judiciary must be enhanced and encouraged.
He noted that, though the challenges of fighting economic and financial crimes are daunting, “our dynamism and pro-activeness as a law enforcement agency has given us the advantage to be a step ahead of these criminals and continue to develop strategies to deal with them accordingly.
Other dignitaries at the opening ceremony of the three-day workshop include Chief Judges of many states, Justices of the Court of Appeal, and senior legal luminaries, among others.
The theme of the Workshop is “Consolidating on the Gains in the Fight against Economic and Financial Crimes”.
Dominica Nwabufo
