The Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ibrahim Magu has reaffirmed his commitment to fighting corruption in the country, noting that no community or society can develop when corruption is entrenched in every facet of its life.
Magu stated these on Thursday, July 31, 2019 through Mr Samin Amaddin, Head of EFCC’s Enlightenment and Reorientation Unit, during a town hall meeting on citizens’ participation in the anti-corruption fight, held at the African Hall, Barcelona Hotel, Abuja.
The town hall meeting was organized by the Social-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, in collaboration with the Department For International Development, DFID, and UK aid, aimed at developing actions for citizens against corruption, discuss strategies for increased citizens’ involvement and formulate recommendations to be forwarded to anti-graft agencies for action.
According to Magu, “Corruption breeds bad governance. It is the fall out of bad leadership and lack of integrity and ethics. It is the single bane of our national development.
“As I have often said, there is no best way to fight corruption. Each and everyone of us, whatever weapon we have, let us deploy against the monster.
“EFCC does not know it all and cannot do it alone. That is why I am especially happy that this town hall meeting is happening because it gives us the unique opportunity to hear from the people who are at the receiving end, the victims of mindless corruption and impunity.”
In commending SERAP’s unflinching commitment to being the conscience of the society, Magu said “the thematic focus of this town hall – the sectors under the spotlight, constitute in a member of ways, the nerve- center of our nation. If we get them right, Nigeria will have gotten it right in the fight against corruption. That is the reason the EFCC is very active in those sectors, either investigating or presenting or working behind the scenes to prevent large scale mismanagement and misappropriation.” The sectors are: the police, health, education, judiciary and power.
The EFCC boss noted that sensitisation and information transmission were key in the anti-corruption fight, “knowing that if corruption which has been the bane of the nation’s progress is sorted out, more than half of her problems would have been taken care of.”
Stakeholders in the town hall meeting involved participants from the public and private sectors, the human rights community, civil society organizations, the media, trade unions, taxi drivers, traders, landlord and students associations.
Professor Yemi Akinseye George, SAN, delivered a talk on practical strategies to mobilise citizens to participate in the fight against corruption in the judiciary, police, education, health and power sectors.
Another highlight of the event was the presentation of the performance assessment survey findings and methodology by Kolawole Oluwadare, deputy director, SERAP.
The presentation was a roundtable that had representations from the Ministry of Education, Amnesty International Nigeria, National Judiciary Council, (NJC), DFID, African Center for Media, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, (NERC), SERAP, Independent Corrupt Practices Commission, (ICPC), Anti-corruption in Nigeria Project, (ACORN) and the Ministry of Health.
In a bid to stimulate the citizens’ participation, the event had anchors in Pidgin English, Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba languages and sign language for the deaf and dumb.
SERAP is a civil society organisation, devoted to promoting transparency, accountability and respect for socio-economic rights in Nigeria.