The Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mr. Abdulkarim Chukkol, has called on Civil Society Organisations, CSOs, across the country to show more commitment to the fight against economic and financial crimes.
He made the call in Port Harcourt, Rivers State on Thursday, August 17, 2023 at a One- Day Interactive Meeting with CSOs across Niger Delta region. According to him, there is need for CSOs to join forces with the EFCC to tackle all forms of corrupt practices, in the overall interests of the nation.
Chukkol, who spoke through the Port Harcourt Zonal Commander of the EFCC, Assistant Commander of the EFCC, ACE1 Ahmed Ghali, charged the CSOs to genuinely take the fight against corruption by storm by supporting the EFCC and refrain from sitting on the fence. “CSOs who want to join us in the anti-corruption fight need to really do that from their minds and without any trouble. We need to join force together to fight”, he said.
Continuing, he stated that, “we are happy because we will discuss a lot of things together as a family and how we can move the country forward and to sanitize the system, make it better so that it can work for us”. In the same vein, the Head, Enlightenment and Re-orientation Unit, ACE11 Aisha Muhammed, in her remarks, said the collaboration between the EFCC and CSOs was key for the fight against corruption to be successful.
“…..We need CSOs to come and work with us. We want to be united, we want to have continuity. We want a close relationship, and we want you to come and help us do more. We need you to take this anti-corruption message to the public. This is how we do it. EFCC cannot do it alone”, she said.
She called for more openness and transparency in dealing with all cases of fraudulent practices by members of the public. “We want to be open in our relationship. We can’t be everywhere. Let’s have a situation whereby in Bayelsa, in Gombe, in Imo, there is someone there who will stand up to speak for EFCC so that we can get Nigeria working again”, she said.
Similarly, Director, Public Affairs Department, Commander of the EFCC, CE Osita Nwajah thanked the participants for honoring the invitation and urged them to come up with ideas and opinions that will be productive towards the fight against corruption.
In a response, Barrister Paul Nwankwoala, Coordinator, International Society for Social Justice and Human Rights, stressed that the EFCC needed more collaborative engagements with CSOs and implored the Commission to partner with only Organisations that are credible. Also responding, Ambassador Green Isaac of the Social Action Group, noted that for an agency like the EFCC to succeed, it should pay attention to petitions and complaints by people concerning corruption.
Stating further, he said the Commission should take a bold step in ensuring that court judgments preventing EFCC from investigating Rivers State Government are vacated and that it must be in collaboration with CSOs.
