The
Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission,
EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, has urged Nigerians to actively get involved in the
fight against corruption by providing information to the anti-corruption agencies.
He
made the call on Thursday, October 12, 2017in Abuja during the unveiling of Corruption Anonymous
(CORA), - a whistle blower support project held at the Yar’ Adua Centre.
The
launch was organized by Africa Centre
for Media and Information Literacy, AFRICMIL, with the active collaboration of
relevant stakeholders including EFCC, to give momentum to whistle blowing,
which is already yielding positive results as a strategic tool in the efforts
to reduce corruption in the country.
Magu,
who was represented by Osita Nwajah, Director, Public Affairs, EFCC, said that
this project and the whistle-blower policy underscore the Commission’s repeated
admonition to Nigerians to come together in dealing with the cankerworm of
corruption.
“In this modern time, we
cannot fight corruption alone, but we need every Nigerian to come join in the
anti-graft war because of the negative effect of corruption. Corruption does
not discriminate against ethnicity, religion or political affiliation’’, he
said.
He
stressed the need to have a common consensus on the fight against corruption so
that those who are feasting in its temple are stopped and punished.
“At the EFCC we have
created an environment where those who have information about corrupt practices
can approach the Commission, and confidently give us information that will be
put into effective use’’, he added.
The
EFCC boss said that the Commission through this initiative has seen many
Nigerians whose motivation was not just to benefit from the recovered assets
which attract a 5% reward as provided in the whistle blowing policy, but the
contentment of ensuring transparency and accountability amongst government
officials.
He
said that since the commencement of the whistle-blower policy the Commission
had received hundreds of actionable tips that led to the recovery of
N527.6million, $52.2millon, £21.2
million and €547.7 million.
Magu
added that the “Commission has treated every tip referred to them with strict
sense of responsibility bearing in mind that such undertaking by the whistle-blower
was a matter of trust and even risk”.
In
his welcome address, Chido Onumah, Coordinator, AFRICMIL, described corruption as the number one enemy of Nigeria
and the reason the country remains underdeveloped.
He
said that corruption was the cancer that was destroying the foundation of our
society, adding that “if drastic measures are not taken to deal with it we will
soon have no country”.
Onumah
disclosed that the organisation had lined up series of activities, which
included creating awareness through the media and civil society engagement, to
achieve their goal of popularising whistle-blowing as a tool for reducing
corruption.
“In
less than a year of its introduction, it has led to the recovery of staggering
amounts of looted funds, thus proving to be an effective and reliable mechanism
for combating corruption. The whistle-blower policy since inception has been a
success”.
Also
speaking Dayo Olaide, Representative MacArthur Foundation, identified ‘2H’ to
pay attention to when tackling corruption. According to him, the ‘2H’ are
‘Hopelessness’ and ‘Helplessness’.
He added that for a
citizen to report any corrupt practices, he must be guaranteed that the
government would take action noting that the Foundation would continue to
support Nigeria in its fight against corruption.
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