EFCC: Economic and Financial crimes commission came into
existence in Nigeria in December 2002 through an act of the national assembly?
the body began operation in April 2003 , when
its board was inaugurated . Section
40 of (EFCC) ACT 2004 had the definition as: economic and
financial crimes to mean the non Violent criminal and illicit activity
committed with the objective of earning
wealth illegally either individually or in a group or in an organized manner
thereby violating existing legislation governing economic activities and its
administration and
includes any form of fraud such as involvement in bad drug
trafficking, money laundering, embezzlement, bribery, looting and any form of
corruption malpractices, illegal arms deal smuggling human trafficking and child labour , illegal
oil bunkering and illegal mining foreign
exchange malpractices including
counterfeiting currency, theft or
intellectual property and piracy, open
market abuse.
ICPC: This abbreviation on its own mean independent
corrupt practices and other related Offenses commission
In comparing the two
bodies and also contrasting it,
one can see that the name differs. Though the
two bodies perform almost the same functions. I cannot forget to say
that (ICPS) was inaugurated on September 29, 2000 by the formal Nigerian
president Mr. Olusengun Obasanjo .
The commission has three main responsibilities as is stated in section 6 (a-f)
of the Act 2000
The following
are their responsibilities
·
To receive and
investigate reports of corrupt Offenses
as created by the Act and in appropriate cases prosecute the offenders.
·
To examine,
review and enforce the correction of corruption all these is to eliminate or
minimize corruption in public life ie prevention duties
·
To educate and
enlighten the public on and against
corruption with a view to fostering
public support for the fight against it education duties.
EFCC: The economic and financial crimes commission
arrangement of sections is of one way traffic,
that of ICPC arrangement of section is divided into part by parts till the end.
For instance, section (1) of the EFCC is talking about the establishment of the
economic and financial crimes
commission while that of ICPC
is found in PART I Section (1) which continues
till the end of the SECTION and PARTS
According to section 3 (1) 3)
maintained that the chairman and members
of the commission other than ex-offcio members shall hold office for a
period of four (4) years and may be
reappoint for a further term of four years and no more sub
(2) says that a member of the commission may of any time be removed by the president for inability to discharge the function of his office (whether arising from infirmity of mind or
body or any other cause) or for
misconduct or if the president is
satisfied that it is not in the
interest of the commission or the
interest of the public that the member should continue in office .
Sub (3) a member of the commission may resign his membership by notice in writing addressed to
the president and that member shall, on the
date of the receipt of the
notice by the president, cease to be a member.
Vacancy in membership: in EFCC body, where
a vacancy occurs in the membership of
the commission, it shall be filed by the
appointment of successor, so however
that the successor shall represent the same interest as his
predecessor.
Section (6) of the commission: this deals or outlined the
functions of the commission to be as follows:
a.
The
enforcement and the due administration
of the provisions of this Act.
b.
The investigation
of all financial crime including advanced fee fraud, money laundering,
counterfeiting, illegal charge etc
c.
The facilitation
of rapid exchange of scientific
and technical information and the
conduct of joint operation geared towards the eradication economic and
financial crimes;
d.
The examination
and investigation of all reported cases of economic and financial crimes with a
view to identifying individuals.
Corporate bodies or groups involved
e.
The coordination
of all existing economic and financial crimes.
f.
Maintaining a
liason with the office of the Attorney- General of the federation, the (NIG)
customs service the Immigration and poison Service Board, the Central Bank of
(NIGERIA) , the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Co-operations, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, all
Government Security and Law Enforcement
Agencies and such other Financial Supervisory Institutions involved in the
eradication of economic and financial
crimes etc
g.
Section 7 maintains special power of the commission. According
to sub (1) (a) has it that the
commission ha power to cause investigations to be conducted as to
whether any person, corporate body or
organization has committed an Offense under this act or other law relation to economic and financial crimes;
a.
Causes
investigations to be conducted into the properties of any person if it appears
to the commission that the person’s life style and extent of the prosperities
are not justified by his source of income
8 Appointment of Secretary and other
Staff of the Commission
a.
There is
established for the commission a secretariate which shall be headed by the secretary who shall be
appointed by the president
b.
the secretary who
shall be:
a.
The head of the
secretariat of the commission
b.
Responsible for
the administration of the secretariat and the keeping of the books and records
of the commission
c.
Appointed
for a term of five years in the instance
and may be re-appointed for a further term of five years subject to
satisfactory performance, and
d.
Subject to the
supervision and control of the chairman and the commission
It further stated in (3) that the commission may, from time to time,
appoint such other staff or second officers from government security or law
enforcement agencies or such other private or public services as it may deem
necessary to assist the commission in the performance of its functions under
this Act