The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ola Olukoyede, has revealed that more than 40 officials of the agency have been dismissed for alleged corruption and financial misconduct since he took charge.
Olukoyede made the disclosure on Monday while addressing journalists at the EFCC headquarters in Abuja, where he reviewed the commission’s activities under his leadership.
According to the EFCC chairman, more than five of the dismissed officers are currently facing prosecution, while the commission is working on case files involving other former personnel for possible prosecution.
“In the past two and a half years or three years of my service, I’ve asked them to dismiss over 40 staff on account of corruption and financial malpractice. More than five of them are being prosecuted at the moment,” Olukoyede said.
He stressed that EFCC personnel would not receive preferential treatment when they were found to have committed offences similar to those the commission investigates among members of the public.
Olukoyede questioned why officers accused of corruption should simply be dismissed when the commission routinely investigates and prosecutes people outside the agency for similar offences.
“Because if that is what people do in other agencies and I arrest them, I investigate them, I prosecute them, why must I just dismiss you if you do it within our own system and I’m not prosecuting you?” he asked.
He added that some of the cases involving former EFCC officials were already before the courts, while prosecutors were preparing other cases for trial.
“You can follow those cases in court; they are public knowledge,” he said.
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The EFCC boss also announced measures aimed at strengthening ethical standards within the agency. He disclosed that the former Department of Internal Affairs had been renamed the Department of Ethics and Integrity.
According to Olukoyede, the new name reflects the commission’s efforts towards what he described as “internal cleansing”.
He further disclosed that the EFCC had introduced a gift policy designed to improve transparency and accountability among its personnel.
Under the policy, officers would be required to declare gifts and assets above a stipulated threshold, including presents received from relatives living outside Nigeria.
The commission would also establish the categories and value of gifts that its officials could legitimately accept.
Olukoyede said the measures were necessary to ensure that EFCC personnel could properly account for their sources of income, assets and lifestyles.
“You must be sure that your hands are clean. You can’t be fighting corruption when your hands are soiled with corrupt practices,” he said.