Abuja – The Speaker, House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has called for effective operational collaboration between Nigeria’s anti-corruption agencies and their foreign counterparts to ensure speedy recovery of the nation’s looted funds.
Dogara, represented by Mr Kayode Oladele, Chairman, House Committee on Financial Crimes, made the call on Saturday in Abuja at a meeting of Corruption Hunters Network, an NGO.
He said that collaboration between the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and members of the network would strengthen Federal Government’s actions in the fight against corruption.
The speaker commended the EFCC for taking advantage of the knowledge transfer opportunities provided by the network to strengthen its institutional processes.
He expressed optimism that the meeting would enhance peer learning, fruitful exchanges and adaptation of best practices among member-institutions of the network in the area of investigative techniques.
He said that the House under his leadership recognised the frontline role of lawmakers in preventing and exposing corruption, adding that parliament had the responsibility to expose inefficiency and waste.
“The timing of this meeting is critical because it is coming when the unbridled support of the international community is required in facilitating the speedy recovery of our stolen resources for national development.
“I will like this meeting to look at the deeper context of the fight against corruption by supporting anti-corruption agencies in Africa to become more effective in preventing and prosecuting corrupt practices,’’ he said.
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Earlier, the acting Chairman of EFCC, Mr Ibrahim Magu, said the meeting was an opportunity to associate and benefit from the wealth of experience of the members of the network.
He said that capacity building was pivotal to the success of the EFCC, stressing that the commission places emphasis on training and retraining to build competence and institute professionalism.
Magu said that the EFCC borrowed a leaf from the network in its training programmes, where premium was placed on the shared-experience component of the programmes.
“Over the years, the network has injected enormous value into the work of the EFCC and we can only ask that it continues to work with us.
“The challenge of corruption is one that Nigeria through the EFCC and other sister anti-corruption agencies is determined to deal with.
“We are the first to acknowledge that the problem is of such a size and entrenchment that it outmatches the limited resources and jurisdictional reaches of the commission,’’ Magu said. (NAN)
