By Dele Ogbodo
The Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ola Olukayede on Wednesday raised the alarm over the increasing involvement of religious and traditional leaders in financial crimes within and outside the country.
Speaking at the unveiling ofa new manual as recalibration of the Commission’s prevention strategy seeks to promote proactive deterrence and greater inclusivity in terms of participation of all stakeholders against financial crimes in Abuja, at the instance of President Bola Tinubu, represented by the Vice President, Mr. Kashim Shettima, he narrated as saddening EFCC’s bitter experience with traditional rulers and religious in the fight against corruption.
In an appeal, he said: “I like to plead with our religious leaders because it is so saddening that I stand here today to say that our experience in fighting corruption that involve all religious leaders and even traditional rulers is nothing to write home about.
“There is a matter that we are handling that involves over N30 billion fleeced from Nigeria, along the line some people died and some injured. We were able to trace over N7 billion to a particular religious body.”
On frustration faced by the Comission, he added: “We wrote a letter to that religious sect and the next thing that we saw was a restraining order. The money traced to that religious body, he got a restraining order stopping us from inviting him and recovering the mooney.
“Meanwhile, people have died along the line over money traced directly to that religious body and that is what we are battling and of course we have appealed the case.
“Now, this is what we are facing and battling: Religious leaders. When I was Chief of Staff (CoS) we investigated the issue of money somewhere in this country, there is a particular religion a sect that laundered money for terrorists. These are the problems that we are battling with.”
After 90 days as Chairman of the Comission, Olukayede, while still sharing his bitter experience in office, said…”I share e this with you in my 3 months in office we have recorded about 747 convictions and it so sad that substantial portion of that conviction has to do with cybercrime about 60% of our youths of the population and if you have 60% of our population in that crime that creates concern to us as people.”
The EFCC boss, stressed that Nigerians should feel challenged because corruption steals from all of us and imperils our collective hope for a better society, adding: “With all modesty, we have been effective in deploying our enforcement powers in tackling various forms of financial crimes, including grand corruption and cybercrimes.”
He pointed out that EFCC’s conviction profile and record of asset recovery, is unmatched by any other agency. But rather than abate, these crimes appear to have festered, suggesting that a change of approach might be imperative.
This realization he added commends a reconsideration of the Commission’s anti-graft strategy with a new focus on prevention in line with the popular dictum that prevention is better than cure even as it is also in tandem with the recommendations of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC).
“Indeed, proactive implementation of effective and coordinated policies against corruption remains the best guarantee for public security, economic development, and the effective functioning of public and private institutions.
“Our motivation therefore is to see how corruption, whether in Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of government, in the ivory towers of our institutions, or the private sector, could be prevented before it occurs.
“The rainbow of stakeholdersgathered today is an affirmation of the strong resolve by the Commission to provoke an honest dialogue on how this could be achieved across all sectors. This meeting of mind is expected to provide new pathways to drive the anti-corruption campaign to desired ends.
“To ensure that this intervention is not lost in a polemic maze, we have prioritized 2 focal areas of concern to the Commission: the involvement of youth in cybercrimes and the susceptibility of our MDAs to grand corruption. The allure of computer-related fraud for our youth especially those in tertiary institutions is deeply concerning.”
On youth involvement in cybercrime, he said, so too is what actions of the Commission by the youth themselves appears like a push back against the enforcement and managers of some of our institutions.
According to him, the danger of having a tribe of future leaders whose outlook in life is that fraud and corruption are the stairways to fame and fortune is, however, too dire to treat with kid gloves.
He said: “In the same vein, extreme vulnerability of our MDAs to corruption, has led to resource hemorrhage and attendant negative impact on the nation’s development.
“Both trends easily provoke a pose of questions. How do we prevent government agencies from becoming endless conduits for the theft of public funds? How do we get our youths to shun cybercrimes, and follow the narrow path of honour and integrity?
“How do managers of tertiary institutions produce graduates that are truly certified fit in learning and character? What help can the society lend to the Academia in nurturing these youngsters?
“Our invitation of Vice Chancellors, Rectors and Provosts of Nigerian universities, polytechnics and colleges of education as participants in this engagement is therefore strategic.
It is our view that the academia can contribute more in the anti-corruption fight through mentorship as youths in today’s fast-paced world, need close supervision to navigate their path to success and purposeful living.
“In the long term, developing and infusing anti-corruption courses for curriculum, could be the game changer as a deliberate programme of reorientation for this demographic.
“These would be more productive than the current tendency towards finger pointing over the embarrassing issue of students’ involvement in fraud.
“What the delicate situation calls for is consensus building and joining of forces to tackle a problem that threatens the future of our youths and the collective destiny of our nation.
On use of faith to drive anti-corruption fight, he added: “Our belief in the potential of faith in anti-corruption led the Commission to develop the Interfaith Manual, a preaching and teaching guide for Christians and Muslims.
“These documents are before us today and will be formally presented shortly.We are optimistic that using these resources, the major religions would be in better stead to address the integrity and moral deficit that we find in our society today.
“To our faith leaders, my appeal is that those who lead our society from churches and mosques should develop messages that glorify industry, hard work, integrity probity and contentment over unbridled quest for wealth and riches.
“Irrespective of how it was made, we all must stand up and be counted in the efforts to re-set the mentality of our youths that the fast lane to affluence is fraud. We should change that mentality.”
According to him, aside from EFCC’s commitment to using faith to tackle corruption in various levels of society, the Commission has also developed a remarkable tool which we intend to deploy to prevent corruption in our Ministries, Department and Agencies.
He said: “This tool, a Fraud Risk Assessment Project, which is also being unveiled today, is meant to assist government agencies to address systemic vulnerabilities at the personnel, institutional and environmental levels, and take preemptive measures.
“When fully deployed, it will save the nation billions of naira in stolen wealth, time and resources spent in investigating grand corruption cases.
“The project is intended to commence, in the first instance, with 20 extremely vulnerable agencies of government and we believe that, with the support of government and the cooperation of the leadership of the selected agencies, we will be able to drastically close the space for brazen graft in the public sector.”
He commended President Tinubu for his unflinching support to the fight against corruption in Nigeria, explaining that with the political will of the administration, I believe that we have a golden opportunity to rewrite the story of our nation’s quest for improved transparency and accountability in public affairs.