Candace Spradley, the United States Director of Narcotics and Law Enforcement at the US Embassy in Nigeria, has lauded the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), describing the anti-graft agency’s work against corruption as impressive.

Mr Spradley praised the anti-graft agency on Thursday when he led a delegation of officials from Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INL) on a courtesy visit to the Executive chairman of the EFCC, Ola Olukoyede, at the Commission’s corporate headquarters in Abuja.

“I should just start by saying congratulations to you for the impressive work that the organization has done under your tenure and certainly the name that it has made for the government of Nigeria in Washington. It is an outstanding and impressive work that has a very far reach,” Mr Spradley said in a statement circulated on social media by the EFCC.

He added, “Earlier on in my career with the Department of State, I learned about the EFCC and all of the very impressive work that you all have been doing to advance anti-corruption and financial crime efforts.”

Speaking during the meeting with the Spradley-led delegation, the chairman of the EFCC, Mr Olukoyede, said, “It has become very imperative for the international community to come together and form synergy to fight these crimes. So it is important for us to work together.”

He added, “You are aware of the recent international crime that was busted in Nigeria that involved close to 200 foreigners. You now know who has been perpetrating cybercrime in our system using the identity of Nigerians. That goes to show you that these crimes we are fighting have international dimensions to them.

“Investigations have revealed that some of these guys were dislodged from some parts of South Asia and they are now looking for a safe haven within the African continent from where they would be attacking targets across the world. Nigeria is not going to create that environment for them to survive. We will deploy intelligence-driven operations to get them out of our system.”