Over N430 billion was recovered by the EFCC between January and August this year from those who looted the treasury, the anti-graft agency has said.
The Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu gave the details of the monies recovered during a Public Lecture delivered at the 20th Anniversary celebration of the Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria(FICAN) in Abuja.
Mr. Magu who was represented at the occasion by the Head of Public Interface of the EFCC, Mr. Tony Orilade said between January and August 30, 2017, the EFCC recovered N409,270,706,686.75; $69,501,156.67; 231,118.69 Pounds; 610,816.20 Euros; Dirham 443,400.00 and 70,500.00 Saudi Riyal, in addition to a total of 137 convictions within the period under review.
He said the monies were illegally siphoned and which, undoubtedly would have gone a long way to improve the living conditions of Nigerians, adding that the recovered sum is kept in the Recovery Fund Account domiciled at the Central Bank of Nigeria.
“To put it bluntly, the single major problem militating against our national development is corruption, Most crimes against humanity are perpetrated using proceeds of corruption, monies obtained through illegal activities, illicit cash flows and money laundering”, he said.
He noted that corruption was no doubt at the heart of why a media house will owe its teeming staff members their salaries, despite their toil day and night to ensure that the publication does not miss the light of day.
He went further to state that corruption was also the reason why roads in the country have become death traps, apart from the fact that hospitals have remained in deplorable states and Nigeria has become a leading African country “exporting” medical personnel to developed countries.
Earlier in his address at the occasion, the chairman of the Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria(FICAN) Abuja, Mr. Simeon Ogoegbulem gave a brief history of FICAN and how it was established in the second quarter of 1997 following the order of late Gen Sani Abacha to all ministries, departments and agencies to relocate to Abuja.
He called for the support of partner organisations to build its befitting secretariat as it has been operating from the premises of the Central Bank of Nigeria in the last twenty years, adding that the support was imperative to achieve the objective.
Highlights of the occasion was the award ceremony which saw 23 corporate and individual recipients carting away awards of different categories, including the Publisher of Economic Confidential and PRNigeria, Alhaji Yushau Shuaib and Isaac Okorafor, Acting Director of Corporate Communications of the CBN who were honored by FICAN with the “Life Time Achievement Award in the field of Corporate Communications”.
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