NGO Tasks CBN, EFCC On Financial Sector

The nation’s apex bank, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and the anti graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), have been urged not to relent in their efforts in sanitising the nation’s banking and financial sector.

In addition, they have also been charged to ensure that all such seemingly influential individuals in the country, who have abused the trust of  Nigerians and acquired stupendous wealth at the expense of citizens through dubious means are made to face the wrath of the law.

They are also to be unflinching in their pursuit of justice and allow the law to take its full cause irrespective of whose ox is gored.

An Abuja-based Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC ), made the call in a statement signed by its Executive Director, Auwal Ibrahim Musa Rafasanjani.

The statement, made available to Journalists in Enugu, urged the anti-graft agency to ensure that no stone is left unturned to sanitise the nation’s banking and financial system.

According to the NGO, a strong message must be sent to prospective perpetrators of such heinous crimes, pointing out that this could easily be achieved by imposing penalties that can serve as a deterrent to future perpetrators.

“We, therefore, encourage the CBN and EFCC to pursue cases in a manner that ensures all offenders, when found guilty, are made to suffer the maximum penalties for their crimes so that not only will justice have been done, it will also be seen to have been done,” the body stated.

The organisation also used the medium to commend the CBN and the EFCC, for the recent successful prosecution of the former Managing Director of Oceanic Bank, Mrs Cecilia Ibru, at the Federal High Court, Lagos, over financial crimes and fraud.

They, however, expressed regret that the jail term slammed on her fell short of people’s expectations, adding “We recall that upon her arrest in the wake of reforms initiated by the present Central Bank management to sanitise the Banking sector, the reactions from her and certain quarters sympathetic to her were cries of witch-haunting and blackmail”.