EFCC chairman: Nigerians complain about corruption, defend corrupt leaders
By Jeffrey Agbo
Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, has criticised Nigerians for condemning corruption while simultaneously defending corrupt individuals when they face prosecution.
Speaking in Abuja on Friday during a visit by officials of the Centre for Crisis Communication (CCC), led by Chris Olukolade, Olukoyede stressed that corruption remains Nigeria’s biggest obstacle to development.
“Everybody is crying that Nigerians are corrupt, that the system is corrupt; that corruption is killing us and destroying our system,” he said. “But when we investigate high-profile cases and arraign people in court, the same people will carry placards and be supporting corrupt leaders. It doesn’t show that we are serious about this fight, the fight is supposed to be a collaborative effort.”
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He emphasised that the fight against corruption requires collective effort, noting that no single agency can tackle the issue alone. “The society has a role to play; policy has a role to play and the issue of welfare of the citizens has a role to play,” he added.
Olukoyede highlighted his leadership approach at the EFCC, prioritising prevention over enforcement. He noted that the agency is now focusing on blocking financial leakages rather than waiting for funds to be stolen before taking action.
“To drive prevention, I established a new directorate called Fraud Risk Assessment and Control, FRAC and now we are doing more of blocking of the leakages.
“We have access to GIFMIS (government payment platform). We want to track and see where every money, released is going. We want to ensure that every capital project is executed. With prevention, we discovered that there will be less to enforce,” he said.
Despite the shift towards prevention, the EFCC chairman assured that the agency is not neglecting enforcement but rather scaling it up, as preventing corruption is ultimately more cost-effective than reacting after funds have been misappropriated.
