President Muhammadu Buhari has said that as the fight against corruption gain more traction home and abroad, he will ensure that, there is no hiding place for corrupt persons and proceeds of corruption in Nigeria.
Buhari who disclosed this on Tuesday while reviewing the passing out parade of 281 Detective Inspectors of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) at the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), Kaduna expressed delight that, with the right policies in place to fight corruption, Nigeria is winning the war against graft.
This was as the Acting Chairman of EFCC. Ibrahim Magu stated that, corruption is deadlier than cancer, coronal virus, ebola and Lassa Fever.
The President noted that his administration is determined to ensure that no government’s financial transaction is done in secret and all are subjected to public scrutiny. “The fight against corruption is becoming much more effective, Nigeria is winning the war against corruption. I congratulate the EFCC on its good work and I urge that the current level of success be sustained and accelerated.
“Our fight against corruption is being recognized by the international community as real and effective. The face of the country abroad is also changing as the international community is beginning to see Nigeria making substantial progress in the enthronement of transparency, accountability and good governance. “The President of the 7th Session of United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) had this to say when announcing Nigeria as Vice-Chairman of Conference of State Parties: “It is an election well deserved. Nigeria has demonstrated remarkable determination in the fight against corruption”.
“Nigeria retained the position of Vice Chair of the 8th Session. During the 10th Session of the Conference of State Parties, the Implementation Review Group Report also noted the high number of Asset Recovery cases successfully initiated by Nigeria in cooperation with other countries under the Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) framework.”
President Buhari further stated that the measures systematically being put in place to fight corruption through systems reforms have also been yielding results. The reforms he said are aimed at eliminating discretionary behaviour of public officials and disabling corruption. He said his government has been assiduously working on preventing corruption from taking place thereby stemming it out of the system through the channels of a series of institutional reforms.
“We have been working within the frameworks of National Action Plan for Open Government Partnership, National Anti-Corruption Strategy which is an adaptation of United Nations Convention Against Corruption and the Global Forum for Asset Recovery (GFAR). Several of the reforms have been effective for several years with great impact on revenue and expenditure management. These include the GIFMIS, IPPIS, Single Treasury Account, and Bank Verification Number.
“Executive Orders, such as Preservation of Suspicious Assets Connected with Corruption (Executive Order 6), Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit Act 2018; and Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act 2018 have been operating for a few years and effectively limiting system opportunities for corrupt practices.
“This Administration, right from the inception, aligned with the Open Governance Partnership (OGP) and Global Forum for Asset Recovery in addition to existing commitments to AU and ECOWAS conventions against corruption, and the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC).
“These frameworks focus significantly on systems reforms in order to prevent corruption. Nigeria’s active participation in these global anti-corruption platforms means that the country is subjecting itself to periodic review of its progress in implementing the articles of conventions thus the fight against corruption.
‘Nigeria’s Action Plan for Open Government Partnership contains commitments such as Fiscal Transparency, Disclosure of Beneficial Owners of Companies by Corporate Affairs Commission and Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), open Contracting Data Standards anchored by Bureau of Public Procurement and generally to curb corruption.
“The objective of this administration is to institute a level of transparency in governance through mainly information technology platforms. Just as advanced democracies and some developing countries, I am determined that within a short period, citizens would be able to follow core government operations on line.
“Our government has reached advanced stage in Fiscal Transparency. The Appropriation Bill is placed online within hours of its presentation in National Assembly. The Budget Office of the Federation has been engaging interest groups in the budget cycle. A pilot scheme of 10 MDAs has been test running online display of their budgets and expenditure movements.
“Our commitment to online disclosure of Beneficial Owners of Companies generally within the framework of the Corporate Affairs Commission and in the Extractive Industries through NEITI is on course. I am aware the portals are ready but owners of companies are unwilling to comply with all disclosure requirements. May I use this opportunity to urge all well-meaning Nigerians to fully comply.
“My resolve is to ensure that the reforms are deepened such that there will be no hiding place for corrupt persons and proceeds of corruption. My aim is to ensure that no government financial transaction is done in secret and all are subjected to public scrutiny. Nigeria has been ranked by the World Bank as one of the top 10 reforming countries in the world. I assure you that we shall do even better.
“I understand that, soon, there may be need to introduce a legal framework enforcing reporting of all non-classified public sector operations online, just as in many other countries. This would facilitate quicker attainment of our goals on open governance and the decimation of corruption in the country.
“Given the increased success of Nigeria’s Anti-Corruption Agencies such as the EFCC in recoveries of proceeds of crime and successful prosecution of corruption cases, discussion on the management of such assets have been up-scaled in the public domain.
“Commitment of the National Action Plan for Open Government Partnership stated Nigeria’s need for a coordinated and centralised agency for the management of recovered assets. It is in line with this commitment that I approved the Asset Tracing, Recovery and Management Regulations 2019.”
Buhari however congratulated the cadets for persevering through the one year of intensive training.
“As law enforcement officers, I expect that you have attained high endurance level and the intellectual capacity to investigate and facilitate EFCC’s prosecutorial powers,” he said.
The Acting Chairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Magu in his address stated that, corruption is deadlier than the killer diseases that the world is fighting.
“Like Mr. President had said, if we don’t kill corruption, corruption will kill Nigeria.
“That is why the mission to eliminate corruption in Nigeria assumed a more systematic posture from 2016 with the development of a National Anti-Corruption strategy and national Anti-Corruption Action Plan which were launched in 2017.
“Corruption is worse than cancer, Ebola-Virus, Corona-Virus and all other deadly diseases put together. Corruption is responsible for the insecurity and other vices experienced in Nigeria today and if we can remove corruption from our system, all these insecurity will disappear,” he said.
He however said that the Commission has achieved several successes with the number of successful prosecution of corruption -related cases by the EFCC. “IN 2015, 103 convictions were secured. By 2016, 195 convictions were recorded, 314 convictions were recorded in 2018, while over 1,281 convictions were secured by EFCC between January 1 and December 31 2019.”
