Ola Olukoyede, chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC), says public officers take national resources “every minute”.
Olukoyede spoke on Thursday in Abuja at an event marking the
80th birthday of Kanu Agabi, former attorney-general of the federation and
minister of justice.
He said the EFCC receives more than 20,000 petitions
relating to public corruption annually, describing the cases as “terrible”.
“I receive over 20,000 petitions in a year in respect to
public corruption, all terrible. What is going on? Like every minute, public
officers take money, and if you go through some of our case files you will
weep,” Olukoyede said.
“The way people take national resources, as Nigerians we’re
victims of these fraudulent activities. And we must come together for once in
our lifetime and say no to the activities of some of our leaders.”
The EFCC chairman said some public servants enter office
with less than N100,000 in their bank accounts but leave after three or four
years with millions of dollars and naira traced to them.
He said some also build hundreds of houses while in office,
adding that corruption is undermining Nigeria’s development.
“Somebody will spend three to four years as a public
servant, but before he got to office he had less than N100 thousand in his
account. By the time he’s leaving, we were able to trace several millions of
dollars and naira to him,” he said.
“Some build 50 something houses, sometimes 200 houses.
There’s no way a nation will develop with those kind of people in power, no
way.”
Olukoyede said public servants must be able to account for
their time in office, adding that accountability and transparency should be the
guiding principles of public service.
Also speaking, Musa Adamu Aliyu, chairman of the Independent
Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), said corruption
thrives partly because of societal tolerance and weak systems.
“The major challenge of corruption in this country is that
we tolerate the culture of corruption, that is why it is thriving. Secondly, we
have systemic errors, our systems are weak,” Aliyu said.
The ICPC chairman called for integrity education in primary
and secondary schools, urging Nigerians to engage members of Generation Z and
Generation Alpha on the importance of integrity.
“We need to tell them that we want them to imbibe the
culture of integrity,” he said.
The event was attended by members of the bench and bar,
public office holders, civil society organisations (CSOs), academics and other
stakeholders.
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