By Celestine Okafor (Editor-in-Chief) @CelestineOkaf11
As Nigeria's foremost Anti-Corruption Agencies, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) meet on Tuesday to strengthen their alliance on how to tame the monster of corruption and financial crimes which has stunted the nation's socio-economic growth and development over the years, it is clearly bad news to the corrupt in Nigeria.
To achieve this important objective, the new ICPC Chairman, Dr. Musa Adamu Aliyu, SAN, has taken a bold step in strengthening the nation's fight against corruption by initiating a high-level meeting with his counterpart in the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Barrister Ola Olukoyede.
The move is in demonstrating ICPC's commitment to fighting corruption through enhanced inter-agency collaboration.
The meeting, held at the headquarters of the EFCC on Tuesday, January 9, 2024, had in attendance the Chairmen and management staff of the two anti-graft agencies. It was aimed at deepening mutual cooperation and synergy efforts for greater impact in Nigeria's anti-corruption drive, and also to discuss other areas of collaboration.
In his remarks, the Chairman of ICPC, Dr. Musa Adamu Aliyu, SAN, stated that the visit to the EFCC was a show of commitment to the existing relationship between the two agencies. He expressed the readiness of ICPC, under his leadership, to provide the needed support and cooperation in the interest of corruption eradication in Nigeria.
Aliyu said, "It is important for us to work together, and we cannot do this without a good relationship. That's why I think I need to extend this hand of friendship to the EFCC so that we can effectively partner in the fight against corruption in Nigeria.
"I am aware that there's an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) between the EFCC and ICPC and I'm willing and ready to partner whenever there's any issue of interest in the fight against corruption.
"I'll be reaching out to my brother and Chairman of EFCC on issues I think we can partner because there's no need for us to be duplicating responsibilities, wasting resources and time. I hope with this first meeting, we are going to be meeting regularly to review what we are doing together."
On his part, the Chairman of the EFCC, Barrister Ola Olukoyede, agreed with his counterpart on the position of collaboration by the two agencies, saying that the meeting had also presented an opportunity for the review of the existing MoU between the two agencies.
Olukoyede said, “We have areas of similar mandates and with the population of about 250 million people, there's so much in our hands and I can tell you that the enormity of the work demands that we work together”.
The EFCC Boss also said that the political will of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to fight corruption, as demonstrated in recent events were enough boost for anti-corruption agencies to give their best.
"We believe that with the kind of President that we have, who is willing and ready to do the right thing as demonstrated in the last 48 hours, it is clear that the President is providing the political will and the leadership for the anti-corruption agencies to work and I believe that with this, there's no hiding place for us and we must ensure that we give our best.
"We are going to give the President the right support and we believe that the courage would be there to take the right decisions. Nobody is too big to be investigated in this country. Once you are not playing to the rules, we'll investigate you.
ICPC, under the leadership of the Dr. Musa Adamu Aliyu, SAN, said on Tuesday that the agency is steadfast in its resolve to fight corruption through enhanced inter-agency collaboration. NNL.
