Nigeria’s Anti-graft War: EFCC Records 3,615 convictions, says Bawa

Abuja, Nigeria – The Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Abdulrasheed Bawa on Wednesday, 14 December, 2022, revealed that the Commission recorded 3,615 convictions as at December 5, 2022

He disclosed this while speaking at the Inter-Agency Task Team programme to mark 20 years of the United Nations Convention against Corruption, UNCAC, in Abuja.

He attributed the performance of the Agency to institutional reforms, improved training of personnel and the support received from the Nigerian government.

“In the last eighteen months, we developed a Standard Operational Procedure for all the sixteen departments and specialized wings to enable staff reduce the use of discretion which has really helped us to get the best out of our workforce. I will like to mention here that the last report that I got in terms of the number of convictions now are very scary. As at the 5th of December, 2022, it was 3,615 convictions,” he said.

He however stated that the Commission was working more on prevention and public enagement in achieving its mandate, especially with the reform of the Special Control Unit Against Money Laundering, SCUML, which is now domiciled in the EFCC. He said SCUML has improved control and oversight of designated non-financial businesses and professions.

In his own remarks, the Country Representative, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, UNODC, Dr. Oliver Stolpe said that Nigeria has one of the most robust institutional and legal to fight corruption worldwide. He noted that studies conducted over the past years suggests that Nigeria is gradually being able to translate its formidable anti-corruption investments to reduction in the levels of corruption.

“The reports we are launching today should give us a hint on what anti-corruption agencies can do more in their respective positions while the civil society representatives will also share their perspective on what they can expect from these leaders and how to work together to achieve greater results.

“So our aim here today is to identify what we can do differently in order to reap greater benefits from Nigeria`s anti-corruption investments” Stolpe said.