With moves to scrap the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, thickening, the Kano Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission has rejected any attempt to scrap the body. This is even as the Kano Commission described the call as ‘unpatriotic and short-sighted.
This was disclosed by the Chairman of the Commission, Barrister Muhyi Magaji Rimin Gado, during the International Ombuds Day 2024, organized by the Kano Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission.
Speaking at the event tagged, “Here to Hear You,” Gado said the calls are nothing but misdirected attacks on a critical agency helping the nation.
The Chairman said, “We don’t support the idea of calls for scrapping the EFCC. The more anti-graft agencies we have, the better the fight against corruption for the country. Some private issues, yes, can be handled by sub-state anti-graft offices like ours.”
Gado stressed that Nigeria needs to move forward in terms of service delivery. He, therefore, noted that what the nation urgently needs is not calls for the scrapping of any anti-graft office.
“When I came to the office in 2015, I found only 30 cases. But today, we have 1,339 cases. With about 60 percent being duly prosecuted and 30 percent still pending. And we are doing this job without collecting a single kobo using the Ombudsman system,” the Chairman said.
According to him, just last week, he recovered N30 million through mediation, and they even paid for some expenses. This clearly shows that the country needs sub-state anti-graft agencies like this to support the EFCC and others.
“MacArthur Foundation granted us funds to revive the Management Conference of the Commission. Some issues are ombuds-related but could only be handled by the EFCC or the police,” Gado said.
Speaking in the same light, the Commissioner 1 of the Jigawa State Anti-Corruption Commission, Musa Auyo, supported the retention of EFCC.
He said, “We are proud to be the pioneer executive of the Commission.
Auyo therefore, commended the Kano Commission for helping set the Jigawa Commission running on February 15, 2022.
“We have tried to establish a relationship. And over time, we have rendered many courts and police stations inactive because people believe more in us. While the procedures in courts and with the police are so tedious, one could get tired before getting justice.”
Auyo, however, added that the major challenges are land issues and other criminal activities and protection of government grazing lands. He also mentioned the recovering of government housing projects that were given out but not paid for.
The Commissioner informed that the Commission had already recovered millions of Naira for the Government.
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source: Daily Post
