EFCC Holds Anti-Corruption Walk In Abuja, 13 Other Zones …Vows To Tackle Looters Of Public Funds

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC) Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, has vowed to tackle looters of public funds, drainers of resources and other corrupt elements in Nigeria to make room for growth and development across the country.
The EFCC boss stated this in Abuja on Saturday during a road walk held in commemoration of the 2023 International Anti-Corruption Day.
The theme of the 2023 International Anti-Corruption Day is “Uniting the World against Corruption”.
Olukoyede pointed out that the EFCC under his watch would not allow resources meant for economic growth and the greater good of Nigerians to be cornered by looters and that every stolen fund would be recovered to develop social systems in the country.
Olukoyede said, “We are going to give sleepless nights to those stealing our money. We are going to remove opportunities for corruption. We are going to plug the loopholes.
“We are in the era of a new budget. We have sent word to all the gatekeepers of our finances in Nigeria that we are going to work with them. Every money that is released, we are going to track them.”
He further promised that the anti-corruption mandate of the EFCC is being refocused to stimulate growth and development in all the sectors of the economy.
“We are refocusing the anti-corruption mandate of the EFCC. We will fight corruption to stimulate growth and development and remove all the threats to the progress of the nation. We are tired of corruption in Nigeria. Our youths must have job opportunities.”
On the theme of the 2023 International Anti-Corruption Day, Olukoyede stated that the whole world must come together to fight corruption and expressed readiness to approach the international community for the recovery of stolen funds kept abroad.
He said, “Those who are keeping looted funds abroad are more corrupt than us. We are going to go after them. We will recover our funds and use them to develop our systems.”
The Tide reports that the road walk was held in all the 14 zonal commands of the EFCC, as the one by the Abuja Zonal Command in Wuse district witnessed massive turn out of Nigerians, including staff of the EFCC, civil society organisations, representatives of the Nigerian Labour Congress, Police, Armed Forces, National Youth Service Corps, women groups, media and other stakeholders.
Meanwhile , the EFCC has raised the alarm over increasing cases of land fraud and cyber crimes in South-East geopolitical zone.
Enugu Zonal Commander of the anti-graft agency, Aliyu Naibi, spoke on Saturday, while fielding questions from journalists during the anti-corruption road walk in Enugu in commemoration of this year’s International Anti-Corruption Day, as declared by the United Nations
According to him, the ugly trends of land fraud were increasingly discouraging investments, while announced that the commission had put machinery in place to discourage the scourge.
He, however, noted that it was still the people and government of the region that should permanently end it.
He said, “Our major challenge in South-East and Enugu in particular, are people using land to defraud other people. This is the kind of report we get almost daily. Another is the issue of cybercrime mostly by youths.”
The EFCC chief called on the anti-corruption stakeholders to rise and save the region from the ugly trend of land fraud and cybercrime in the interest of the region and her youths.
“We want to use this opportunity to implore our community, religious leaders and traditional rulers to intervene and checkmate this ugly trend.
“The state government is not left behind also. They and every aspect of society must stand up against this by talking and taking action.
“I say this because land fraud is an economic sabotage and it discourages investors from coming into any state where it is practised,” he said.
On the road walk in Enugu, Naibi explained that it was meant to create awareness about the negative effects of corruption.
While delivering the speech of the Executive Chairman of the EFCC, Ola Olukoyede, Naibi called on anti-corruption stakeholders to unite and continue to support the commission to break the chain of corruption in the country.