The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) recorded over 1,000 convictions in the last 10 years, the Chairman of the Commission, Mr Ibrahim Lamorde, has said.
Lamorde disclosed this on Monday at the 2013 International Anti-Corruption Day in Abuja with the theme: “Zero corruption, 100 per cent development”.
He said that the agency had handled high-profile cases, saying that the commission had relentlessly checked public corruption through vigorous law-enforcement activities.
“In 10 years of existence, EFCC has recorded over a thousand convictions. Significantly, the commission has recorded over 90 convictions this year.
“This is quite heartwarming, giving the constraints that permeate the entire judicial process where cases drag endlessly.
“Nevertheless, I salute the courage of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, who has launched an audacious reform programme for the judiciary.
“However, if we are to check the leakages in public resource utilisation and ensure the maximisation of available resources for developmental objectives, the emphasis must not only be on enforcement activities.
“In addition, we must embrace a forward-looking preventive strategy, the concept of risk assessment is perfectly a synchronism to this victory.
“Risk assessment hinges on the prevention of strategic objectives and as an agency, we have always recognised the place of prevention in the anti-corruption fight.”
Represented by Mr Chile Okosoma, Lamorde said that “the fight against corruption in Nigeria is irreversible”.
In its presentation, the Code of Conduct Bureau said that it was better and easier to sensitise the public officers against corruption than prosecuting them of corruption.
CCB acting Chairman, Barrister Yakubu Tuktur said that the bureau received a total of 96 petitions of cases of breaches of the code of conduct by public servants in the last one year.
“We were able to visit 130 agencies and 21 federal ministries for compliance training programmes during the period under review. We are also able to train 185,234 officers on sensitisation.
“The bureau received a total of 96 petitions. It referred seven petitions to the legal department for advice, 24 petitions are under investigation, 10 petitions were referred to other agencies and 15 petitions were closed.
“The department prosecuted 303 cases at the Code of Conduct Tribunal, obtained four convictions, six cases were discharged and acquitted while 293 cases were currently adjourned,” he said.
Represented by the Secretary of the bureau, Mr Sani Bako, Tuktur said that CCB had verified “almost all the governors, their deputies, ministers and commissioners in the country”.
He, however, said that CCB was focusing on the “risk groups” like governors, deputy governors, ministers, commissioners, procurement and accounting officers.
“Our mandate covered from level 01 up to the President but because of paucity of funds, we are not able to attend to everybody.
“So we are now selecting the “risk groups” who are the likely high areas where there are breaches like Governors, procurement and accounting officers to be able to work within the limit of our resources,” he said. (NAN)
