…Calls for deeper collaboration between EFCC, CCB
By Dele Ogbodo
The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Mr. Ola Olukoyede, has said that fighting corruption with kid-gloves in Nigeria will never work.
The antigraft Commission chair made the disclosure at the Headquarters of the Commission during the week in Abuja when he hosted the Chairman, Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), Dr. Abdullahi Bello.
He said: “ “I don’t see your visit as a courtesy visit, I see it more for the need for us to strengthen our existing collaboration.”
Spokesperson for the Commission, Mr. Dele Oyewale, in a statement quoted Olukoyede as saying: “It is important for all of us to note that the two agencies are mandate-aligned, we are set up to fight corruption and financial crimes in the land.
“One of the things that we have been talking about with respect to the functions of CCB is the ability to be able to do investigation and to really ensure that investigations and prosecution are pursued very rigorously.
“You don’t fight corruption with kid-gloves in Nigeria, it will never work, You don’t plead with people, You don’t beg people, everybody knows that corruption is bad.
“Fighting corruption is what nobody wants to do but somebody has to do it. All of us desire to see a better Nigeria, but a better Nigeria will not just drop from the sky, we have to work for it.
“Foreigners will not come and do it for us, we have to deal with it by ourselves and we have what it takes to deal with it”, he said.You don’t plead with people, You don’t beg people, everybody knows that corruption is bad.
Olukoyede, expressed the Commission’s resolve to work with the Code of Conduct Bureau, CCB, in the fight against corruption, economic and financial crimes, stressing that every effort must be made by every stakeholder to build strength against corruption.
He noted that both agencies have related mandates, added that there was need for them to strengthen their existing collaboration.
“One of the things that we have been talking about with respect to the functions of CCB is the ability to be able to do investigation and to really ensure that investigations and prosecution are pursued very rigorously.” He said.
The EFCC boss charged his CCB counterpart to revive the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), to make it functional and effective which will further strengthen the fight against corruption.
Bello, in a remark stated that his Bureau needed support and collaboration with the EFCC for more robust fight against corrupt practices.
“EFCC is an organization that has distinguished itself and we want all the assistance and support that we will get from you and I hope and I believe we will get it”, he said.