The Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC) Mr Ola Olukoyede has called for a change in some institutionalized ways of doing things in the country, stressing that Nigerians are not innately corrupt and would fare better in integrity with some positive systemic changes.
He disclosed this in Abuja on Friday, March 22, 2024 when he hosted a delegation of senior officials of Katsina State Government, led by the governor, Dikko Umaru Radda who paid him a courtesy visit at the EFCC’s corporate headquarters.
According to him, corruption is feeding on some defective systems in the country and progress could only be made when such systems are corrected. “Fundamentally, there is nothing patently wrong with us as human beings. Nigerians are not different from other people in the world. Nothing is wrong with us as Nigerians. We are not patently corrupt. The problem we have is the systems we run. In some of our systems, if we bring an angel to run them, the angel would be contaminated in 24 hours. If we can deal with our systems, put the right thing in place, you will discover that Nigerians are very amenable. You will see people change”, he said.
He further observed that “none of our cultures, customs and the faiths we practice support corruption, but over the years, Nigerians “have institutionalised certain systems that make us vulnerable to corruption such that corruption now seems to be a way of life.”
While he lauded governor Radda for his efforts with his state’s Fiscal Responsibility Commission, FRC, and Treasury Single Account TSA, he pledged the support of the EFCC to help him drive transparency, financial discipline and accountability in his state. “We have so much responsibility on our hands in this our own time to make changes. So I am going to encourage and support your good policies”.
“I want to congratulate you on the establishment of the Fiscal Responsibility Commission which will ensure that budgetary allocations are implemented the way they were intended and that people comply with financial regulations. “Your implementation of the TSA is also part ways of instilling financial discipline and accountability in the system. It is when people do not know what comes in or have control over what goes out that corruption comes in. I pledge our support to help you to ensure that there is transparency, financial discipline and accountability in the running of your administration,” he said.
Earlier in his remarks, Governor Radda disclosed that the visit was driven by his desire to partner with the EFCC in the fight against corruption in his state and to seek the capacity building of his state’s financial managers by the Commission especially in the areas of identifying leaks in the state’s finances and ways to plug them.
“The main purpose of my visit is to extend our desire to partner with the Commission in the fight against corruption. We are a new government and we have a lot to learn as we navigate our administrative responsibilities. I would want our commissioners, accounting officers, procurement officers and those saddled with budget implementation to take advantage of your Academy and acquire the knowledge to do the right thing in their roles,”he said.
Speaking further, he stated that “As governor of Katsina State, I am exploring new ways of reducing economic and financial crimes in my government. The core of my approach lies in identifying the central pillars of such crimes.” He explained further that fighting corruption has become imperative to manage meagre resources available for development. “We must put our heads together to fight corruption to manage our meagre resources. In the face of economic hardship, we must not allow corruption to thrive”, he said.
Radda was accompanied on the visit by top officials of the Katsina state government, including Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in the state, Fadila Muhammed Dikko, Chairman, of Katsina State Anti-Corruption Commission, Lawal Garba Abdulkadir, among others.
