President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has vowed to combat corruption head-on, stressing that no Nigerian will be spared.
Represented by Vice President Kashim Shettima, Tinubu made the observation that corruption had grown to be a disease that was preventing Nigeria from fully using its resources in his speech at the 6th Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) – National Judicial Institute (NJI) Workshop for Justices and Judges in Abuja. He made a point of saying that fighting corruption requires teamwork.
He claims that Nigeria isn’t getting the full advantages of its wealth because of the country’s frightening levels of corruption.
Tinubu said that stronger anti-corruption agencies and judicial reforms are two ways his administration plans to counter this. The President remarked that the EFCC has made considerable gains in pursuing corruption cases, with noteworthy advancements in the justice sector. Nonetheless, issues like pointless petitions, intimidating magistrates, and contradictory court rulings continue to exist.
He said: “No Nigerian is immune from corruption, a cancer which continues to deny the nation the full benefits of its God-given resources. Rather than look up only to the anti-corruption agencies for a solution to this malaise, I believe it is in our enlightened collective interest to close ranks and aggressively tackle this common enemy.
“We must tackle challenges impeding the speedy adjudication of corruption cases, including frivolous applications and appeals, intimidation of judges by counsel, judgment not based on facts of cases but on technicalities. “We will also continue to support the work of the EFCC to ensure that it continues to deliver its statutory mandate without let or hindrance.”
Ola Olukoyede, the chairman of the EFCC, outlined more challenges, including persistent postponements, arbitrary injunctions, and suspects abusing the legal system to dodge prosecution.
Despite these hurdles, the EFCC continues undaunted, engaging stakeholders locally and abroad to combat corruption.
Olukoyede declared that to combat corruption, the commission has formed the Fraud Risk Assessment and Control (FRAC).
“As a commission, our efforts at integrating stakeholders in the fight against corruption are continuous. Earlier this year, we held a stakeholders dialogue on the issue of cybercrime where we equally unveiled the commission’s new focus on corruption prevention with the establishment of Fraud Risk Assessment and Control, FRAC.
“We are convinced that it is ultimately more profitable to prevent than to investigate and prosecute corruption cases.”