Why we under-perform – ICPC, EFCC

PAUL DADA|The Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have given reasons for their inability to perform as they would.

Representatives of both anti-graft commissions were at the media roundtable on Approaches/Strategies for Combating Impunity for Local Government Corruption, organized by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP).

The programme was held yesterday at the Ondo Hall of the Lagos Airport Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos.

The Head of Investigations of the ICPC, Kayode Adedayo, who represented the Chairman of the commission, Ekpo Ita, stated that for corruption to be tackled in the country, there was the need to strengthen the nation’s institutions.

He also said there was the need to improve budgeting and budget control.

Adedayo, however, regretted that the ICPC only had between 700 t0 800 staff to serve 200 million Nigerians.

The official population figure for Nigeria is 170 million.

Adedayo said the law establishing the ICPC stated that there must be an office in all the 36 states but the Commission only had offices in the 15 of the states.

During the interactive session, Hallmark sought to know how independent ICPC was with regard to its freedom from political interference.

The ICPC representative somewhat evaded the answer by saying the law guaranteed that the Chairman of the Commission had a five-year tenure and could only be removed by the two-thirds majority of the senate.

Adedayo could not also provide an answer to the inquiry of Hallmark to present the figure of the court cases the ICPC had successfully prosecuted in the two years.

He rather said the commission was still compiling its cases, which would be made known later.

The Head of Investigations of the EFCC for Lagos, Gbolahan Latona who represented the Chairman of anti-graft agency, Ibrahim Lamorde, was upset that people criticise the commission unfairly without taking into cognisance the challenges confronting it.

He said the commission’s investigation takes time because it often has to deal with so many government agencies as well as foreign agencies.

He said the commission should not be compared to the better equipped Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the USA.

He complained that the EFFC does not have more than 1000 personnel to render service to the millions of Nigeria.