The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ola Olukoyede, has disagreed with some lawyers criticizing its financial crimes prosecution in different quarters.
He said with Nigeria losing $500 million to crime in just one year, the EFCC will keep tracking and prosecuting financial crimes.
Olukoyede made this statement during a meeting with the Senate Committee Chairman on Anti-Corruption and Financial Crimes, Senator Emmanuel Udende, and vowed to continue the fight against corruption.
Olukoyede addressed criticisms from lawyers regarding the EFCC’s activities, assuring lawmakers that EFCC operatives would continue to dedicate their efforts to combating cybercrime, which he described as economic sabotage that damages the country’s reputation.
“You are also aware that upon my assumption of office, I identified economic sabotage as a major problem. There is no financial crime too small to investigate and prosecute, and no one is too big. If you ignore the small ones today, tomorrow they will become big. So, people should stop criticizing us for investigating and prosecuting cybercrime.
“Some of these criticisms are coming from legal minds—people who should know better. A crime that has caused us to lose over $500 million in one year, and somebody says we shouldn’t do anything about it? You present your Green Passport on the global stage, and they single you out for profiling,” he said.
Quality Assurance at EFCC
In addition, the EFCC Chairman assured lawmakers that ethics and staff integrity were his top priorities.
He noted that several EFCC staff members had been dismissed due to unethical behavior.
“I take the issue of ethics very seriously, and I have had to dismiss several staff members on account of unethical conduct, even as recently as two weeks ago. Upon my assumption of office at the EFCC, I declared my assets and encouraged all others to do the same,” he stated.
Nairametrics
