No fewer than 45 members of the Network of Anti-Corruption Agencies in West Africa on Friday, March 13, 2015 visited the EFCC Academy, Karu, Abuja, to assess the facilities at the institution.

Ayo Olowonihi, Commandant of the Academy, who received the visitors, told them that the institute which started as a one-block Academy has grown, becoming the resource base of the Commission where Cadets and newly employed officers undergo training at the point of entry. He said the Academy has up-dated facilities to host conferences, seminars and trainings for anti-corruption personnel not only in Nigeria but the Africa sub- region.

Olowonihi, who emphasized that the Academy has the capacity to accommodate 180 trainees at a go, informed the visitors that 85 Cadets are presently under going training; 68 of whom have gone to Citizenship and Leadership Training Institute in Jos, Plateau State.

Among the facilities inspected by the visitors were the hostels, library, ICT Centre, Lecture rooms, gymnasium, 380-Seat amphitheatre and canteen.

Issoufou Boureima, President, Network of Anti-Corruption Agencies in West Africa, who led the visitors, said he was impressed by the facilities at the Academy. “I am confident that the Academy can host any world-class training or seminar with the facilities on ground”,

Boureima who is also the chairman, High Authority Against Corruption and Relating Crimes, Niger Republic, reiterated the importance of collaboration between anti-corruption agencies across the sub-region as an impetus to the crusade against corruption.

In his reaction, Olowonihi said that “we have always had international trainings here across the African sub-region. Last year, we proposed a program to cut across the sub-region, but was suspended as a result of the Ebola outbreak in the region. We are not relenting on that. We are planning a survey to gather input from law enforcement agencies across the sub-region to meet their training needs and language barrier has never been a problem for our francophone brother as there are interpreters at the institute”.

Media & Publicity
15th March, 2015