Olukoyede:Anti-Graft Czar Leading The Fight Against The Scourge Of Corruption

Since he assumed office as the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mr Ola Olukoyede, has taken the battle to the doorsteps of corrupt public officials.

And like the slogan of the Commission, “EFCC will get you anywhere”,Olukoyede has continued to ‘smoke’ out the kleptomaniacs whose ball pen has robbed the kids of the nation of their fair share of the National cake.

Olukoyede has also refused to succumb to subtle blackmail aimed at discouraging him. As at the last count, EFCC under Olukoyede has continued to wax stronger.

Conferring the award of ‘Man of Valour’ on him recently, President Global Peace Movement International, GPMI, Dr Mike Uyi, said Olukoyede has discharged his duty as an anti-graft czar creditably.

Two other Awards, ‘Winner and Torchlight Awards’ were presented to the EFCC’s boss.

Speaking at the EFCC’s corporate headquarters in Abuja, during the award presentation, Dr. Uyi, who came with a large delegation of local and international officials of the organization disclosed that the EFCC Chairman was unanimously chosen for the triple honour because of the new dawn his leadership has brought to the country’s anti-corruption fight.

“With the present EFCC Chairman, we are bold to say to the entire world that we have gotten a Chairman that will not fall by the wayside. We have gotten a Chairman who has integrity and fear of God to take on the job without fear or favour. And that is why he is qualified for the Global Peace Movement Awards.”

Uyi explained that Olukoyede is one public official giving his all to Nigerians, standing in the gap and inspiring confidence within and outside the country.

“I am presenting these Awards to the EFCC Chairman who has done so well for Nigeria. A lion that is not making noise. He has made Nigeria proud and we Nigerians at home and in the diaspora are proud of him”, he said.

Responding, Olukoyede while dedicating the Awards to the Commission, expressed appreciation of the management and staff of the Commission to GPMI.

He pointed out that everyone that identifies with the EFCC in its bid to tackle the menace of economic and financial crimes is a corruption fighter.

“On behalf of the management and staff of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission I would like to thank you very much for the honour that you have done to us. I want to tell you that we would not take the honour for granted. We are going to improve on whatever that has led to this. Everyone who identifies with our mandate is a corruption fighter.”

While bewailing the scourge of corruption in the country, Olukoyede promised not to disappoint Nigerians and not to spare the corrupt.

According to him, for every N10 the EFCC recovers, more than N50 has been stolen and for you to recover that N10, you need approximately N2.50k.

To this end, he restated the commitment of his administration to the pursuit of preventive frameworks to tackle corruption.

“We decided to go by the way of prevention and I set up a directorate of Fraud Risk Assessment and Control (FRAC). With this Directorate, we are going into MDAs and monitor real time the implementation of budgets. As money is being released, we will be tracking it”, he said.

He acknowledged the political will of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to fight corruption, stressing that the President is not interfering in the works of the EFCC.

“If God has not brought someone like President Bola Ahmed Tinubu who gives us free hand to do this job, imagine what would have happened to our system? There is so much to be done and somebody must do this job. Let us come together to give Nigerians the benefit of good governanceHe restated that no shade of economic and financial crime would go unaddressed under his leadership of the EFCC.

“We will do the mini; we will do the mega. If you don’t do the mini, the mini will become the mega. Some of these people stealing money in high places started from the local governments, they started as leaders of associations in schools, where they stole money and they did nothing to them and it became part of their lives.”

While touching on the negative impact of internet crimes, Olukoyede disclosed that several international companies had to shut down their Nigerian operations following massive theft of their finances through local wire fraud.

“In 2022, we lost over $500million in our economy to yahoo boys. The statistics are there. In the same year, about 71 international companies left Nigeria because they hacked their accounts. We can’t get credit cards in Nigeria because of our poor credit rating because of the activities of these cyber criminals, so the best we can get is debit cards.

“Do you know that there are some international merchants that you cannot use Nigerian cards on their platforms? Display your Green Passport outside the country and see if they will not take you aside and search you thoroughly”, he said.

The EFCC boss charged Nigerians to fully embrace the fight against economic and financial crimes in the overall interests of the nation.

Commenting on a fresh report released by the National Bureau of Statistics which indicated that N721bn was received as a bribe by Nigerian public officials in 2023, Olukoyede said all hands must be on deck to tackle the scourge headlong.

Olukoyede who was speaking on Thursday at the Unity Fountain to commemorate the Anti-Corruption Day said Nigerians should embrace whistleblowing by exposing corruption in the country.

The report titled, “Corruption in Nigeria: Patterns and Trends”, was released by NBS on Thursday. According to NBS, the N721bn paid in bribes across the country in 2023 amounted to about 0.35 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product, GDP.

The report which was based on a survey conducted with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, stressed that the average cash received by public office holders in 2023 was N8,284, an increase from an average of N5,754 in 2019.

The report read in part, “According to the 2023 survey, the average cash bribe paid was 8,284 Nigerian Naira.

“While the nominal average cash bribe size increased since 2019 (from NGN 5,754), this does not account for inflation. The inflation-adjusted average cash bribe in 2023 was 29 per cent smaller than in 2019 in terms of what could be bought with the money.

“Overall, it is estimated that a total of roughly NGN 721 billion (US$1.26 billion) was paid in cash bribes to public officials in Nigeria in 2023, corresponding to 0.35 per cent of the entire Gross Domestic Product of Nigeria.”

It is a known fact that Nigeria conducted its general elections in 2023.

Some opposition parties had alleged that the election, which produced President Bola Tinubu, governors, and lawmakers, was marred by corruption.

Some electoral officials and security agencies were accused of receiving bribes in a bid to allow for alterations of results.

To Olukoyede,’Corruption is the next deadliest affliction of humanity’. Olukoyede said that apart from terrorism, corruption is the next deadliest affliction of humanity.

He called for enhanced and consistent commitment to whistle blowing by Nigerians to tackle the menace of economic and financial crimes and other acts of corruption.

He said: “Aside terrorism, corruption ranks as the next deadliest affliction of humanity in every region of the world.

“In view of the danger and threat to our existence which corruption represents, it is imperative that individuals, communities, corporate bodies and indeed the whole world join hands to tackle it frontally.

“One way of doing this is through the whistle-blowing initiative”.

Olukoyede said the fight against corruption required absolute commitment to integrity and unfaltering focus.“We can not win the war against corruption through lip service, emotional outbursts, or mere mob campaigns.

“There is a need for commitment, passion, consistence, and credibility of intelligence. Every whistle blown must point towards truth and evidential proofs”, he said.

He pleaded with the Nigeria Labour Congress and Civil society organizations to be part of the anti-graft war.

Olukoyede said “most of the governors being prosecuted today were those who couldn’t pay minimum wage.

“This is an urgent need for us to fight corruption, and NLC will throw its weight behind the agency in all fight against corruption.”

NLC President Joe Ajearo promised that the union would fully support the EFCC in its fight against corruption. Various stakeholders at the Road Walk bared their minds on the need for more affirmative actions against corruption.

The Chairperson, Conference of Civil Society and Coordinator Civil Military Co-operation (CIMCO), Adams Otakwu, commended the EFCC for galvanizing Nigerians to stand against corruption.

Otakwu said: “It may interest us to know that upon all the threat to national security inclusive of terrorism, insurgency, proliferation of small arms and light weapons the most insidious of them is corruption and that is why the fight against corruption must be tackled head on”.