September 14, (THEWILL) – The prevailing normlessness in Nigeria, coupled with a justice system that enables criminals until they are proven guilty, was underlined recently by the revelation of a recovered N1.33 trillion in cash and assets by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
According to the Commission’s National Chairman, Mr. Ola Olukoyede, the recovery was done in the past 34 months. The Commission recovered 648.47 million dollars, 71,306 pounds and 182,877 euros, apart from the amount in naira, the local currency. Others are 1,500 in real estate properties. Curiously, the recovered money has found its way into the public purse for spending. N397.26 billion, according to the Commission, was returned directly to the Federal Government, N50 billion to the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, NELFUND, and another amount to the Consumer Credit Corporation, CREDICORP.
There is no doubt that this recovery is an achievement under Olukeyede’s leadership of the anti-graft agency. In a country where dodgy characters occupy positions of authority and questionable means are displayed without compunction, Olukoyede’s tenure is a model of leadership. Commendable as this achievement is, it raises an inevitable question: Where was the money recovered from in the first place? The answer is in the breakdown as given by Mr Olukoyede. “A whopping N397.26 billion, or 33 per cent of the total, was direct recoveries for the Federal Government. N836.34 billion, or 67 per cent, was recovered on behalf of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), state governments and individual victims of fraud. For example, N3.94 billion was returned to the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited, N1.2 billion to the Enugu State government…”.
So, much of the recovered money is going to where it came from! This view may sound overly simplistic. Not quite. The point is that institutional weakness, lack of accountability, poor oversight, and tardy enforcement of laws against corrupt practices have continued to pose a major challenge to growth and development in Nigeria. As long as this situation prevails, reports of staggering recovery will end up on the headlines and Nigeria’s economic development will weaken by the day and public trust in institutions and authorities will continue.
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Imagine reading through the list of candidates cleared for the 2027 general election and finding the names of many public officials facing litigation for alleged corruption charges. In the National Assembly, lawmakers have yet to clear their names of alleged corruption charges and prosecution by the EFCC. When alleged criminals become lawmakers, the hunted becomes the hunter. Illicit financial transactions become hard and even dangerous to track; money laundering networks spread their tentacles everywhere and decayed infrastructure in education, healthcare, job creation and social protection, which ought to benefit from the looted monies, grows in leaps and bounds. That is the Nigeria case over the years.
Now, apart from publicly declaring the recovery of illicit funds, Olukoyede also did something extra that should be recommended to the public institutions that received the recovered funds. He sacked some of the Commission’s officials found to have corruptly enriched themselves in violation of the oath of office they took. That is the real story that the EFCC and its chairman should celebrate. If other state institutions follow this example, there would be no need to recover funds; funds recovered would, in all likelihood, be put to proper use. Moreover, the unethical behaviours that led to the looted funds would be checkmated.
