Lamorde Vows To Cleanse EFCC

The Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr Ibrahim Lamorde has vowed to cleanse the agency by setting up an internal affairs unit within the organisation.

A statement issued by the Head of Media and Publicity of EFCC, Mr Wilson Uwujaren in Abuja said Lamorde made the pledge when members of the Senate Committee on Drugs, Narcotics and Financial Crimes undertook an oversight tour of EFCCfacilities.

He said that as part of the drive, staff of the agency would henceforth be made to take a lie detector test every six months.

The EFCC boss also made similar vow when officials of the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria visited him.

Addressing the Committee, led by its Chairman, Sen. Victor Lar, the chairman said that the only way the commission could make a meaningful impact in the fight against corruption was for the staff to be cleansed from within.

“For us to really move forward, the commission needs internal cleansing. Things have really gone wrong. We must deal with ourselves before we can deal with others outside.

“We have to look into the lifestyle of our personnel. We are going to embark on polygraph assessment of staff periodically,” Lamorde told the legislators.

He said the commission held the legislature in high esteem and declared that the visit was the most important one this year for the organisation because it was the legislature that created EFCC in 2002.

Earlier in an address, Lar said that the visit was for the committee members to ascertain how the 2011 budget was spent and what the budget for 2012 would look like.

“Today, people say the best EFCC does is just to arrest, once you get to the court you are set free, that is the end of it. It is not too good for the image of EFCC,” Lar said.

Similarly, Lamorde solicited the support of the U.S. government during the visit of the officials to the commission to turn around the commission. He commended the U.S. for taking the lead in law enforcement activities in the world and asked for help in the area of training.

He asked for more slots to be available to the commission at the FBI Academy, where the commission’s staff could be trained.

Mr James McAnully, Charge d’ Affairs of American Embassy in Abuja, congratulated Lamorde on his appointment and promised future cooperation and assistance to the commission.

McAnully,who was accompanied on the visit by Diane M. Kohn, Anti-Crime Programme Coordinator in the U.S. Embassy, said that he had no doubt that Lamorde, with his distinguished career in the Nigeria Police before joining EFCC, would excel.