The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC has been commended for its efforts in fighting corruption in Nigeria. Members of the UNCAC Peer Review Team gave the commendation Wednesday as they rounded off a three day working visit to the country.

The team which was led to the Commission’s headquarters by Emmanuel Akomaye, national focal person for the peer review process and former Secretary to the EFCC, included Howard Dem (World Bank); Ryna Terhisce (World Bank); Sefako Seema ( Lesotho); Dursan Drakic(Montenegro) and Tanja Santucci (UNODC)

A member of the team, Samuel de Jaegro, the anti-corruption coordinator for Central and West Africa based in Dakar, Senegal observed that the EFCC has been doing an excellent job and commended the agency’s training facilities at its Academy located in Karu, a suburb of Abuja, which he said is of immense benefit for training of staff of anti-corruption organisations. 

In a remark, Akomaye stated that the essence of the peer review which is in consonance with the agreement reached a few years ago in Doha, Qatar was to afford signatories to the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) the opportunity of self-assessment to determine progress with the implementation of various articles and areas where improvement are needed.

According to him, “review is not ranking, it is an exercise to help nations see where they are with regards to compliance and where they can be helped,” he stated.

Chairman EFCC, Ibrahim Lamorde, who received the team, expressed hope that the report of the review process “will enable us see areas of improvement and have the necessary recommendations that will help deal with corruption in the country”.

He added that despite the efforts being made, perception remain a major challenge that has to be tackled.

Media & Publicity
9th April, 2014