ENUGU, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has dismissed more than 40 of its personnel over alleged corruption and financial malpractice in the last three years, the Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, disclosed on Monday.
Olukoyede also revealed that about five other officers of the commission were currently facing prosecution for alleged corrupt practices.
According to Vanguard, the EFCC chairman made the disclosure in Abuja during a media interactive session marking his three-year stewardship at the commission’s headquarters.
He said the disciplinary actions were part of efforts to ensure that officers entrusted with the responsibility of fighting financial crimes were themselves subjected to the same standards of accountability demanded of members of the public.
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“In the past two and a half to three years of my service, I have asked them to dismiss over 40 staff on account of corruption and financial malpractice. More than five of them are being prosecuted at the moment,” Olukoyede said.
According to him, while some of the affected officers were already standing trial, case files involving others were being prepared for prosecution.
He said the commission would not shield its personnel from prosecution when they were found to have violated the law.
“You can follow those cases in court; they are public knowledge,” he said.
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Olukoyede added, “If that is what people do in other agencies and I arrest them, I investigate them, I prosecute them, why must I just dismiss you if you do it within our own system and I’m not prosecuting you?”
He stressed that personnel of the anti-graft agency must maintain high standards of integrity, warning that the fight against corruption would lose credibility if EFCC officers were themselves involved in corrupt practices.
“You must be sure that your hands are clean. You can’t be fighting corruption when your hands are soiled with corrupt practices,” he said.
As part of the commission’s internal reform programme, Olukoyede announced the renaming of the former Internal Affairs Department as the Department of Ethics and Integrity.
He said the move was part of measures aimed at strengthening internal accountability and promoting ethical conduct among EFCC personnel.
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The commission has also introduced a gift policy designed to improve transparency and prevent conflicts of interest among its officers.
Under the new policy, Olukoyede said personnel would be required to declare gifts above a specified value, including those received from friends and relatives in Nigeria and abroad.
“The commission will also define the categories of gifts personnel can accept and require officers to account for their sources of income and standard of living,” he added.
The EFCC chairman argued that Nigeria’s fight against financial crimes required more than arrests and prosecutions, stressing that institutional reforms and policies capable of blocking avenues for corruption were more effective in the long term.
“The most effective system that fights financial crime is not law enforcement. It is the policy regime, institutional reforms that close leakages,” he said.