The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has revealed plans to investigate more than 3,000 financial crime cases.
The 3,000 cases approved for investigation are part of the over 5,000 petitions received by the agency from different groups and Nigerians.
Chairman of the Commission, Mr. Ola Olukoyede disclosed this at the 20th-anniversary lecture of the Human and Environmental Development Agenda Resources Centre, which held, in Lagos.
The EFCC chief, who was the guest lecturer at the event, said the agency has recovered over N60bn and $10m, in less than four months since he assumed office.
He expressed concern at the pervasive nature of corruption in Nigeria, but assured that the EFC has come up with innovative mechanisms to either stop or minimise the stealing of public funds and other financial and economic crimes
“All we have to do is investigate and present the facts before the court. I will not be the one to give judgement. That is where we have collective responsibility. When you see something, you say something
“The issue is we are working as if we are not working. Upon my assumption of office between then and now, I have received over 5,000 petitions. I am not talking of just the one we received, but the one that we have checked and discovered that there was substance in it. That is just for one agency, EFCC.
“As I am talking to you I have approved the investigation of over 3,000 cases in less than four months, but what is our capacity, how many staff do we have? What resources do I have access to?
“In less than four months, we secured convictions of 700 and recovered over 60 billion naira, over 10 million dollars
I can tell you that for the billion that has been recovered, trillion has been stolen.”
On his part, the Chairman of HEDA, Mr. Olanrewaju Suraju, noted that the anti-corruption fight had been challenging.
Suraju urged every Nigerian to contribute a quota from their respective spheres and domains.
He stressed that HEDA cannot do the fight alone but can influence and facilitate the process for agencies like the EFCC, ICPC, Code of Conduct Bureau, and Tribunal to do their jobs more effectively.
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