The chairman of the anti-graft body said former public officials’ refusals to account for their stewardship in office were unacceptable.
Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr Ola Olukoyede, has accused public officials of diverting public funds to private accounts.
“When I look at some case files and see the humongous amount of money stolen, I wonder how we are still surviving. If you see some case files you will weep.
“The way they move unspent budget allocation to private accounts in commercial banks before midnight at the end of a budget circle, you will wonder what kind of spirit drives us as Nigerians,” he said.
Olukoyede expressed his frustration on Wednesday in Abuja while receiving a team from the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) led by its Chairman, Mohammed Shehu, on a courtesy visit to the commission.
Describing public corruption as the biggest cause of corruption in the country, he said, if public corruption was addressed, Nigeria will fare better than most countries.
The EFCC chairman decried the magnitude of stealing by corrupt elements in the country, especially stealing of unspent allocation in government agencies.
“A situation where somebody would hold a public office or position of trust for years and you call him to account and he says no, he would not account, is not acceptable.”
He said the EFCC had set up a Department of Fraud Risk and Assessment and Control as part of mechanisms to prevent leakages in mobilisation and appropriation of funds.
“If we don’t look at the system, we will continue to chase shadows; in this direction, we are not just going to investigate and recover; what we have decided to do in the EFCC is Policy Review.
“If we can block some of these leakages and have a 50 per cent of capital project execution in Nigeria, the country would be fine,” he said.
(NAN)
