President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime has reiterated its commitment to support Nigeria’s anti-graft agencies in contributing to the African Union’s efforts to prevent and combat corruption in Africa.

Foreign affairs minister Geoffrey Onyeama stated this at the 5th Annual General Assembly Meeting of the Network of National Anti-Corruption Institutions in West Africa (NACIWA) in Abuja.

The two-day event was jointly organised by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Mr Onyeama said Mr Buhari’s regime would continue to provide the necessary material and capacity support to anti-corruption agencies.

“The Nigerian government believes that the West African sub-region has always been at the forefront of the fight against corruption, and as such, NACIWA shall be supported to achieve its objectives,” noted the minister. “We are confident that deliberations from this meeting will come up with recommendations that shall assist Heads of State and Government of the sub-region with strategies to deal with the issue of corruption.”

ICPC chairman Bolaji Owasanoye stressed that NACIWA could encourage member states to criminalise corrupt practices and adopt legislative, police, and technical measures to prevent and detect corrupt practices.

“We are all aware that corruption is a significant contributory factor to Africa’s under-development. This realisation informed the adoption of the convention and, I dare say, the formation of NACIWA,” added Mr Owasanoye. “One can surmise that the inability of our institutions to fully implement our individual mandates and, by implication, the regional treaty obligations are a contributing factor to the resurgence of unconstitutional take over of government within the West African sub-region.”

On his part, EFCC chairman Abdulrasheed Bawa explained that the commission secured 2220 cases in the past year. He added that the EFCC also recovered over N152 billion, $386 million, among other recoveries.

He said the commission had also embarked on several reforms to strengthen its operations, including launching a reporting application known as Eagle Eye.

“The EFCC has further developed a five-year strategic plan that guides its operational approach in law enforcement action. ECOWAS sub-region is threatened by existential security challenges which may not be unrelated directly or indirectly to corruption,” explained Mr Bawa. “We must therefore intensify efforts to stem the spate of illicit financial flows within the sub-region including illicit flows by politically exposed persons (PEPs).”

He added, “We must also continue to amplify effective collaboration and intelligence sharing in our quest to rid the sub-region of economic and financial crimes while collectively addressing the security challenges prevalent in the sub-region.”

(NAN)