Chukkol urges Nigerians on greater commitment to anti-graft war

Glory Ebomah

The Acting Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mr Abdukarim Chukkol, has called on Nigerians to be more focused and committed to the war against economic and financial crimes.

He made the call on Tuesday, October 10, 2023, while receiving Post-Graduate Auditing and Forensic Management Students of Nile University, who came on a Courtesy Visit to the Corporate Headquarters of the Commission, in Jabi, Abuja.

Chukkol who spoke through the Acting Director, Public Affairs Department, Wilson Uwujaren said fighting corruption was not for the EFCC alone but for all patriotic citizens of the country.

“Fighting corruption is not for the EFCC alone because no matter what we do on our own, we can’t win this war without the buying in of the people, and young people like you. You have a role to play in this exercise. One of our former Chairmen said that one of the most important stakeholders that we have in fighting corruption are the citizens, and you are all citizens, as you have a great role to play in this fight”, he said.

“Chukkol further said, “Corruption is one of the problems that is affecting the progress of our nation, there is nowhere you look at in our society today that you can’t find evidence of corruption. Our nation is highly blessed in terms of resources, materials resources, but despite the potentials that we have as a nation, we have not been able to make progress because of corruption”

Head, Media & Publicity Unit of the EFCC, Assistant Commander of the EFCC, ACE1 Dele Oyewale stressed the need for new Ideas in driving the anti-corruption fight.  He specifically called for new insights through digital applications, creative resistance to corruption and musical engagements of youths and other Nigerians to shun all shades of corruption.

“We need fresh thinking to tackle corrupt practices.  As youths, digital interventions, creative resistance to graft and musical re-orientation are important.  The task of fighting economic and financial crimes is a task for everyone because we are all suffering the effects of corruption across the country, we should also be involved in fighting it”.

Also, in a presentation on the topic of the ‘Forensic investigation and Auditing’, the Head of the Tax Fraud Section, Joseph Yepwi says the EFCC does its investigation in a professional way and in the processes, collaborates with other government bodies both locally and internationally.

Also, EFCC’s Engagements with Stakeholders were addressed by the Deputy Director, Creative Engagements, DCE, Nwanyinma Okeanu.

“The commission engages and collaborates with stakeholders across the globe, like the FBI, Metropolitan Police and all of them because we had an alliance.

“So, it doesn’t matter where you commit your crime and get to, somebody somewhere is watching your back”, she said.

Head, Cybercrime Section, Nuhu Buhari spoke on the Impact of Technology on Auditing. He urged the students to be abreast of new trends in auditing systems as the world has evolved into a paperless era, with the challenges of cloud computing.

“As a 21st-century Accountant, you should be ready when you go for auditing or investigation analysis, be looking at cloud computing because the world has gone digital and paperless. You need no paper to audit the cloud, the world has moved fast past paper”, he said.