Senator Emmanuel Udende, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Anti-Corruption and Financial Crimes, has commended the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and its leadership for their outstanding performance over the past year.
In a statement posted on its X page, the EFCC quoted Senator Udende, who emphasized that the Commission has made significant strides in combating economic and financial crimes, providing clear and measurable evidence of its success.
Senator Udende made these remarks in Abuja on Monday, during an oversight and pre-budget presentation visit to the EFCC’s corporate headquarters, accompanied by other Committee members.
Assessing the Commission’s efforts, Senator Udende expressed the Committee’s satisfaction with the EFCC’s performance, noting that the agency has exceeded expectations in its fight against corruption and financial crimes.
“We have looked at the records, the budget performance, what the EFCC has done in the past one year and we are quite impressed with what they have done. Within the year under consideration, they have made several recoveries. Within the one year that the Chairman assumed office, he has recovered so much for this nation and for that reason, we as a Committee want to commend the Chairman for doing a very wonderful job.
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“I couldn’t believe it when I saw the report and nobody has come forward to dispute them. As a Committee, we have gone through and are satisfied that they have done a good job. We have gone through the budget performance and we are also satisfied that they have done a good job within the limited resources that they have. The agency needs a lot of money but in the budget processes, we discovered that little was assigned to them and they have achieved this much, I think they need to be commended by every Nigerian,” he said.
EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, warmly welcomed the Committee members and emphasised the importance of basing their evaluation on the Commission’s performance indices for the budget year.
He said “I am sure you must read the record of our modest achievements in the last one year, particularly in the area of recovery. If you are fighting financial crimes, and you don’t make asset tracking and recovery one of the key issues that you have to embark on with all seriousness, you may not be able to go far. I say this because when the perpetrators of these crimes still have access to the proceeds of the crime, they can go to any extent to fight you.“We are happy to report to you that in the last one year, we have done close to N250 billion and several tens of millions of dollars and also quite several real estates across the country in asset recovery.
“Within the last year, we have secured close to 3,500 convictions. Some of these convictions are high profile, not minding what some people are saying. When you approve the annual report that we have sent to you, then we can publish it on our website”
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In response to criticisms from certain quarters regarding the Commission’s focus on combating cybercrime, the EFCC boss emphasised that he cannot afford to overlook this issue, as cybercrime not only constitutes economic sabotage but also causes significant reputational damage to the country.
“You are also aware that upon my assumption of office, I identified economic sabotage as a major problem. There is no financial crime that is too small to investigate and prosecute and no one is too big. If you refuse to do the small one today, tomorrow they will become big. So, people should stop criticizing us for investigating and prosecuting cybercrime.
“Some of these criticisms are coming from legal minds, people who should know better. A crime that has made us lose over $ 500 million in one year and somebody said we shouldn’t do it? You present your Green Passport on a global arena and they mark you out for profiling.”
