The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission spent N2.8bn on administrative and personnel costs between 2007 and December 31,2008.

But it recovered assets worth N15bn during the period.

Expenses incurred by the agency appreciated to the present level of N2.8bn from N2.4bn incurred 2007.

A breakdown of the expenses revealed that N1.1bn was spent on administrative costs, N1.7 on personnel costs, and N1.3m on bank charges. Of this amount, N206.17m was spent on local transportation and trips while N134.64m was spent on overseas travels.

Uniform and dress code allowance jumped from N10.67m in 2007 to N130.87 in 2008.

These figures were contained in the EFCC’s annual report obtained exclusively by our correspondent in Abuja on Thursday.

The 62 page report, which was signed by the chairman of the commission, Mrs. Farida Waziri, noted that the problem of corruption was huge and had continued to manifest.

This, it said, made the result achieved easily whittled down.

According to the report, “in the last one year, the commission recorded 74 criminal convictions recovered assets worth over N15bn and filed 123 cases in courts of which 30 involved politically exposed persons”.

The level of seizures of funds from suspicious transactions also rose from N3.98bn in 2007 to N9.31bn in 2008.

Of recoveries made by the EFCC in 2008 N2.9bn was deposited in Access Bank Plc and 2.3bn in Intercontinental Bank Plc.

The commission also deposited N139.6m in a domiciliary account in Access Bank; Afribank also has N1.036bn in its vaults for the anti-graft agency.

The sum of N2.5bn was lodged at the Central Bank of Nigeria branch in Lagos and N309.72m at the CBN headquarters in Abuja.

Commenting on the rule of law, Waziri said, “This is a major policy issue which I appeal for consideration at the highest level of government. “We must not espouse the rule of law and open it up for unbridled abuse by the same people who ought not to take advantage of it.

“The application of the rule of law in a manner that gives the common man a reasonable impression that the rule of law is a respecter of certain categories of persons is certainly the rule of gone wrong”.

Waziri, who had earlier opposed the methods employed by her predecessor, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, admitted that the fight against corruption could not be fought without “Sometimes” adjusting basic right of the accused.

Explaining that it was time for soul-searching on the part of policy makers, she stressed the need for political parties to scrutnise the source of wealth of their candidates.

The EFCC boss admitted that there was still a lot more work to be done.

She said a report by the African peer review mechanism issued in May 2008 referred to Nigeria as a country where “corruption and fraudulent practices are rampant and remains a cause for concern”.

Waziri stressed that the EFCC had substantially overcome some of its initial challenges and observed that some ongoing high profile investigations and prosecutions involving top executives in the public and private sector were yielding results.

According to her, “The commission has so far recovered N108bn from the five banks under bailout by the CBN”.

She attributed the improvement in the nation’s corruption rating to the effort being made by the current administration to fight corruption.