By Ife Osemedua
The Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC), Mohammed Umar Abba, has urged anti-corruption agencies in the country to collaborate in the fight against corruption for optimum results.
A statement issued by EFCC’s head of Media and Publicity, Wilson Uwujaren, on Wednesday said the anti-corruption boss gave the charge in a webinar hosted by the Inter-Agency Task Team of anti-corruption agencies in the country to mark this year’s International Anti-Corruption Day.
Themed “United Against Corruption: “Recover with Integrity”, the EFCC boss in his goodwill message at the occasion, noted that the continuous evolution of new economic and financial crimes and the insatiable appetite for corruption in both the private and public spheres call for more unity of purpose and cooperation among the nation’s anti-graft agencies in the pursuit of the goals of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy.
“There is no gainsaying that the situation calls for us to unite with a common purpose, deepen our cooperation and recommit to implementing the broad goals of the of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy in our respective agencies,” he said, adding that the EFCC has prioritized domestic cooperation “as an effective tool to winning the war against corruption and will continue to support any initiative that promotes collaboration.”
He called on anti-corruption agencies in the country to use this year’s occasion to review the country’s anti-corruption efforts, policies and laws towards charting a collective new course in the direction of a more effective and inclusive multi-stakeholder’s cooperation and actions on the anti-corruption war.
The EFCC boss further noted that anti-corruption agencies ought to leverage on each other’s strengths “to create the desired result we seek, so that corruption is minimized in our lives” and emphasized the primacy of technology in the effective prevention, investigation and prosecution of corruption offences.
While noting that this year has been specially challenging and the International Anti-Corruption Day, different due to the effects of the COVID 19 global pandemic, Abba observed that the EFCC was able to ride the storms, achieving over 700 convictions.
“In spite of the covid-19 pandemic, the Commission was able to achieve a lot. You will recall that the Commission had to slow its activities but after the lockdown, it continued inviting suspects, investigating high profile cases and we recorded tremendous convictions.
“It is important to tell you that from January 2020, till date, the Commission recorded over 700 convictions and we are still counting,” Abba stated.
The Inter Agency Task Team (IATT) organised a poetry competition for 11 secondary schools in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as part of activities to mark the event, in which Akorede Sani from Battle Axe Academy came tops in the junior category, while Oluwatosin Ogbasanya from Glistin International Academy, emerged the winner in the senior category.