THERE is no doubt that economic and financial crimes constitute grave consequences for national development as well as a huge image dent for the country.
It is against this backdrop that the country needs to work assiduously to evolve and sustain measures geared towards eradicating economic and financial crimes and bringing perpetrators to book.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) by virtue of its enabling Act, has the responsibility for the investigation and prosecution of all financial crimes such as advance fee fraud money laundering counterfeiting, illegal charge transfers, futures market fraud, fraudulent encashment of negotiable instruments, computer credit card fraud, contract scam among others.
Recently, the Chairman of the Commission, Ola Olukayode in a meeting at Abuja with Charles Omini, special envoy for West Africa, disclosed that within the past one year, EFCC received not less than 14, 000 petitions from members of the public.
Although no breakdown of the particulars of the petition was given, by a simple mathematical calculation, this translates to more than one thousand petitions that find their way into the Commission’s office monthly.
This figure excludes those that might have been considered not fit and proper as the EFCC boss was emphatic that the disclosed figures received were “merely the genuine ones”, although he did not state the criteria used for determining the latter category of petitions.
All the same, the sheer number of petitions that seemingly scaled through the Commission’s lens, is not only scary, but a clear indication that financial crimes persists. Is corruption really fighting back?
We are worried by this rise in number of petitions for there is no smoke without fire. The petitions are indeed, an unmitigated red flag to both domestic and external investors since no reasonable businessman will risk channeling his hard earned resources, energies and time into an environment enmeshed in the vortex of economic miasma and financial toxicity.
Added to these is tremendous damage that insecurity in some parts of the country has precipitated, denting the image of the country as well as our socio- economic turf. Granted that the Commission may have recorded some achievements to change the current narrative, we believe that more needs to be urgently done.
Indeed, available records indicate that between May 2023 and May 29 2024 EFCC has secured 3,175 convictions, recovered N156 billion, $43 million, £25, 365.00 and 186, 947 Euros
Without mincing words, this is a far cry from peoples’ expectations considering that about 14,000 petitions were received in a year excluding cases that are either not reported to the anti-graft commission or are rated by the commission as lacking in merit hence could not be investigated, let alone prosecuting the perpetrators.
This situation unfortunately, cannot continue for a long time. It is indeed disgusting and totally unacceptable that while economic and financial crimes continue to expand their ravaging and debilitating frontiers against our growth and journey on the democracy highway, we appear unable not to be responding with equal force to stop the monster.
Could it be that the EFCC is not fully equipped or is the Commission constrained to operate at this abysmally less commendable pace because of undue influence from some powerful but unscrupulous forces or meddle-some interlopers? Is it a case or lack of political will, insincerity of purpose or selective justice? Is the commission asphyxiated by the ignoble culture of impunity or recklessness as to its duties to the nation and the citizens’ expectations?
For instance, what cogent, positive and credible reasons has the Commission for the inability to arrest former governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello who was said to have been spirited away by his successor despite the fact that the anti-graft operatives hard earlier cordoned off the residence and laid siege to arrest the politician before he was he escaped with some help? Could it be because he is a member of the ruling APC government?
Why is it that a preponderance of the arrests and prosecutions by the Commission revolves around only certain crimes while some powerful but unscrupulous persons who deliberately and with brazen impunity fritter away our common patrimony are hardly brought to book?
There should be a paradigm shift both in speed, skill and mode of tackling the evil and until this is done, the volume of petitions will continue to surge while corruption continues to stare the nation in the face.
