Conflict Of Interests Behind Corruption – Magu
BY COBHAM NSA, ABUJA – The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has blamed conflict of interests and low moral value for the irritating acts of corruption in public offices.
This is even as the Commission said over N409 billion recovered from treasury looters is currently in the Recovery Fund account domiciled with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Acting Chairman of EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, who made this assertion in Abuja on Tuesday, said the anti-graft agency is disturbed that most public officials are torn between fighting corruption and actually engaging in such despicable acts because of immediate pecuniary interests.
In his presentation as Guest Speaker at the 20th Anniversary celebration of the Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria (FICAN) Abuja, Magu said Nigeria is currently bleeding under the weight of corruption “because the average public office holder is bogged down in conflict of interests. Now the public office holder is more interested in advancing personal interest rather than the public interest which he is charged to discharge.”
Represented by Head of Public Interface unit of the Commission, Tony Orilade, the EFCC boss regretted that; “in the thinking of the morally bankrupt person, the public office confers on him or her a rare opportunity of a life time. So his or her action is informed by pecuniary motives.”
According to him, though corruption “is fighting back, really hard”, the Commission is resolute in its anti-graft war, adding, “In the history of the EFCC’s 14 years of spearheading the fight against corruption, the fight back has never been this savage.”
Explaining that the Commission has been exposed to several physical attacks, resulting in damages to properties worth millions of Naira, the EFCC boss said the evil doers at one occasion even stated their mission before leaving behind “a threat addressed to one of our officers.”
He stated that an attack on the Commission’s office housing its “AMCON Desk, Procurement Fraud and Foreign Exchange Malpractices Section, came a few weeks after one of our investigators was shot and wounded by unknown assailants in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.”
Magu insisted that the violence attacks on EFCC may not be unconnected with the 137 convictions it has recorded between January and August 2017 in addition to the recovery of N409,270,706,686.75; $69,501,156.67; £231,118.69; €610,816.20; AED 443,400 and SR70,500 from treasury looters in the last couple of month.
On the recovered monies currently kept in the Recovery Fund account with CBN, the anti-graft Agency Chief said, “They were monies illegally siphoned and which undoubtedly would have gone a long way to improve the living conditions of Nigerians.”
He praised FICAN Abuja for the high level professionalism and integrity exhibited by its members in the last 20 years, especially in relations to its coverage and reportage of the nation’s financial sector.
Also speaking at the event, the Executive Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) Mr Tunde Fowler said the Service has moved “to close the gap in low oil revenue caused by the fall in the price of crude oil and incessant destruction of oil and gas facilities.”
He said FIRS has already introduced innovative strategies to raise the revenue from non-oil sources, resulting in over N2.5 trillion total tax revenue recorded between January and August, 2017.
In his welcome remarks, FICAN Chairman, Simeon Ogoegbulem thanked friends of the Association for their great support over the past 20 years, adding FICAN will continue to work hard for effective service delivery as a major stakeholder in the nation’s financial sector.
