THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has announced that it recorded 3,615 convictions in 18 months, as of December 5, 2022.
EFCC chairman Abdulrasheed Bawa disclosed this on Wednesday, 14 December, while speaking at the Inter-Agency Task Team programme to mark 20 years of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), in Abuja.
Bawa attributed the performance of the anti-graft agency to institutional reforms, improved training of personnel and the support received from the Nigerian government.
“In the last eighteen months, we developed a Standard Operational Procedure for all the sixteen departments and specialised wings to enable staff to reduce the use of discretion which has really helped us to get the best out of our workforce.
“I will like to mention here that the last report that I got in terms of the number of convictions now is very scary. As at the 5th of December, 2022, it was 3,615 convictions,” he said.
Bawa, however, stated that the Commission was working more on prevention and public engagement in achieving its mandate, especially with the reform of the Special Control Unit Against Money Laundering (SCUML), which is now domiciled in the EFCC.
He said SCUML had improved control and oversight of designated non-financial businesses and professions.
In his own remarks, the Country Representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Oliver Stolpe, said Nigeria has one of the most robust institutional and legal frameworks to fight corruption worldwide.
He noted that studies conducted over the past years suggest that Nigeria is gradually becoming able to translate its anti-corruption investments to the reduction in the levels of corruption.
“The reports we are launching today should give us a hint on what anti-corruption agencies can do more in their respective positions.
“The civil society representatives will also share their perspective on what they can expect from these leaders and how to work together to achieve greater results.
“So our aim here today is to identify what we can do differently to reap greater benefits from Nigeria’s anti-corruption investments,” Stolpe said.
The ICIR reported that the EFCC secured 3,328 convictions between January and November 2022.
Bawa disclosed this on November 24 in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, at a workshop on financial crime reporting organised for journalists in the state.
A reporter with the ICIR
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