Abuja – Mr Ibrahim Magu, Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has solicited the support of the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST), in the fight against corruption.
Magu made the call during a courtesy visit to the NIPOST headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday.
The EFCC chairman, while acknowledging the cordial relationship that had existed between the two government agencies, called for greater support from NIPOST as a critical stakeholder in the fight against corruption.
“Everybody knows that we are charged with the investigation of financial crimes because we have passion for fighting corruption.
“We realise that in fighting corruption, everybody is a stakeholder, so we want to go to everywhere asking for support.
“We are here to thank you for the support given to us in what we are doing because everybody is affected. We need your support for us to be able to succeed in what we are doing.
“Support us both in the office and at home, teach your children to do the right thing, tell them the implications and the danger and the evil in corruption.’’
According to Magu, corruption has made it impossible for children nowadays to get scholarships unlike before; this is the reason why schools at all levels have problems today.
He, therefore, called on NIPOST to create awareness among the people about the effects of corruption because some people did not believe that corruption was wrong.
He explained that the fight against corruption should involve everybody because the impact was far reaching.
Responding, Mr Enoch Ogun, the Acting Postmaster-General of NIPOST, assured the EFCC boss that his organisation had already had the support of NIPOST as they had been collaborating in their roles.
“We have been working together in our major formations in the country, EFCC officials are there, particularly at the international mail processing centre.
“ Last year, we were able to intercept about N83b worth of banned financial instruments and these financial instruments come in form of cheque, international money order and credit cards.
“This is with the cooperation of the two organisations.
[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”70560″]
“ You can imagine if such financial instruments go out to the public, the negative impact will be so much on the national economy.
“But I believe we can do more than what we are doing, I believe that better than any courier company in the country we can get message to every part of the country.
“We can help you get fliers with anti-corruption inscriptions and send it through our mails and through our network.’’
According to him, people that do not have internet or phones can get messages in different languages and I believe these are the areas we can support EFCC.
Ogun, however, called on the EFCC to train some NIPOST staff in sensitive areas on basic elementary knowledge of financial instruments.
This would help them to do their work better in assisting the agency to fight crime and at the same time challenge them in their duties.
He said that any parcel, letter or document that was below 500grammes would be handled by EFCC officials because most financial fraud were being committed in parcels less than 500 grammes.
“This is where we can really come in and I believe we will be of help to keep your staff in our formation.
“The government realised that NIPOST is very critical to your operations; that is why the postmaster-general of NIPOST is a member of the EFCC board’’, Ogun said. (NAN)