Reps, EFCC Urge Public Officials To Shun Corruption

ABUJA – The House of Representatives, through its Committee on Fi­nancial Crimes and the Eco­nomic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has advised public officials to shun corrupt tendencies capable of derailing the development of the nation.

The Chairman of the Com­mittee, Hon Ginger Onwusibe and the Executive Chairman of the EFCC, Ola Olukoyede made the call in their separate remarks during the opening session of a three-day workshop on “Fiscal Responsibility and Transparen­cy,” organised by the Committee in partnership with the EFCC in Abuja.

Facilitated by Barclays Glob­al Consult Nigeria Limited, the workshop drew over 100 elected state and elected local govern­ment officers from Jigawa State.

Hon. Onwusibe who was represented at the event by the Acting Clerk to the House of Representatives Committee on Financial Crimes, Austen Tolu Adesoro, noted that the country has been battling public sector corruption, money laundering, illicit financial flows, and vari­ous types of fraud for some de­cades, despite the current legal and institutional measures in place.

He enjoined state govern­ments to domesticate and im­plement statutory laws against financial crimes as well as sen­sitise staff, citizens and stake­holders at all levels to promote ethical reorientation and change societal tolerance for corrupt practices.

According to him, the promo­tion of ethical whistleblowing and respect for public funds and property must be intensified, while personal responsibility and professionalism should be prioritised to stimulate staff commitment to work.

In an interview with report­ers on the sidelines of the ses­sion, Onwusibe, through the Clerk of the Committee, Adeso­ro, said:

“The objective of this training is to equip state and local govern­ment officials with the do’s and don’ts that will help save us all from the hydra-headed monster of corruption in the country.

“The 10th House of Repre­sentatives under the Speaker, Rt. Honourable Tajudeen Abbas, through the House Committee on Financial Crimes, apart from the oversight function of oversee­ing agencies, we believe in going an extra mile in the fight against corruption, which one institu­tion cannot effectively do. We believe that fighting corruption should be a joint task.

“It is on this note that we are also working in line with the Chairman of EFCC, Ola Olu­koyede, in applying more preven­tive measures. We don’t want to limit ourselves to exposing and prosecuting offenders alone, we want to apply preventive mea­sures.

“It is part of this preventive measure that has geared the committee to this approach of organising seminars for govern­ment officials at the state level.

“We are not also stopping there, permit me to use this op­portunity to mention that we are also looking forward to amend­ing the EFCC Act in order to give more powers, to ensure that the EFCC Act is completely embed­ded in the Nigerian constitution in order to make it more effec­tive.”