THE CHALLENGES FACING ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL CRIMES COMMISSION (E.F.C.C)

After the inception of the Commission on the 17th day of October 2011, the Federal Government Linked an agreement with the Nigeria arm of global software company, Microsoft in a bid to step up its commitment to fight computer and internet based fraud and crime. The challenges facing the Commission are enumerated below:


Doubts     
Doubts, being one of the principle challenges facing E.F.C.C. can be visibly observed in the way the former president Olusegun Obasanjo manipulated the commission to do its nefarious biddings. If Nuhu Ribadu were to be a person of honouable character with scruples, he would have resigned his appointment in protest to the undue interference and meddlesome interlopeness of the executive in its affairs. He did not do this, instead, when he was nominated to go for study leave at the prestigious and highly esteemed NIPSS, a condition for promotion to the post of Inspector-General of Police, he protested and initially refused to go for the study leave. Rather, he preferred to stay put in the commission as a Commissioner of Police. But the question must be asked, what will make a man not to go up the ladder of promotion in his organization but rather prefers to remain on the same spot?

Fears
One of the greatest challenges facing E.F.C.C. can be said to be fear. A vivid example is the case of Reginald Dombrage V. E.F.C.C. The plaintiff, a member of the Delta State house of Assembly instituted a legal action against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission at the Federal High Court, Benin City, the Edo state capital. Dombraye, in a co-paragraph affidavit deposed to by his Counsel, Mr. Patrick Sambo, said that E.F.C.C. had violated the provisions and letters of the Nigeria Constitution in its daily operations and activities. Dombraye, who represents Bomadi Constituency in the State Assembly alleged that the anti-graft Commission did not allow the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court to discharge his constitutional duty of designating a judge to try offenders. He said hat such an action contravened section 18 (3 and 4) as well as section 43 of the E.F.C.C. Establishment Act. He deposed that the Commission was not competent to assign cases to any Federal high court of choice. Dombraye said that the act of assigning cases to courts of its choice by E.F.F.C was null and void. He further averted that the commission has consistently failed to allow the attorney General of the federation and the commissioner for justice at the state level to exercise their constitutional power to prosecute criminal cases. Also, he sought a declaration that all previous cases assigned and tried before all court without the approval of the attorney-General of the federation from the inception of the commission was illegal, thus null and void. Similarly, he sought an order compelling the commission to comply with the spirit and letters of the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria as well as the act establishing it in the handing of its assignment.  The case cited above, is one of the aspects of fear that mar the commission from discharging its duties. The fear of the sacred cows in the helm of affairs is also like a scare crow before the commission. certain cases involving big government officials in the past never amounted to anything tangible. A good example is the case of Odili v. EFCC.     

Attempts
Attempt as one of the challenges facing the commission cannot be over emphasized. To begin with the attempts of the commission can be seen in the current issue at hand which is the case of the vashewani brothers. 20It is a known fact that the brothers, sunil Haresh and mashesh vashewani are said to be on the run following attempts by the commission to arrest them. Another attempt made by the commission is the case of Fred Ajudua. The economic and financial crimes commission has attempted on the night of Thursday, 20th March 2007 to re-arrest the suspected 419 kingpin, Fred Ajudua at Ibusa, Delta State hometown. Ajudua who has been standing trial at the High Court Ikeja,  Lagos. He was granted bail February 2005, on the condition that he would make himself available for continuation of his trial mega scams. However, while claiming that he is still on admission, Ajudua who is also wanted to answer to fresh charges of 419, has been holding court at Ibusa, Delta State. At each hearing of the case on trail, Ajudua’s lawyer have presented medical reports that he was still undergoing treatment in India. They have in fact stated that the accused was on admission and about to undergo a major surgery. However, information got to the commission that the man supposed to be in critical condition in India, was being seen at various social gatherings. that intelligence led to the attempts by the commissions operatives to arrest him at a popular popular in Ibusa. Unfortunately, the move was thwarted by his armed guards. Several attempts by the commission to arrest criminals who violated the law have proved to be futile.

Finance  
Finance can be said to be one of the challenges facing the Commission. It is a truism that no financial crime can be successfully investigated and prosecuted without a good job done by an investigator and no investigator will do a good job if his integrity is questionable. The finances of the commission may not be said to be a major challenge, since the government makes provision for the Commission. But then, the Commission still need huge funds to tackle the challenges facing it. Because of certain financial constraints which hamper their discharge of duties, E.F.C.C. has received some sums of money from external donos and they are: 
 
European  Union                  -           $32 million
World Bank                           -           $3.181 million
UNDP                                    -           $650,000.00
British Government             -           $525,000.00
The Netherlands                   -           $699,000.00
Total                                       -           $37,055.00 million

On the other hand, donor funds to the Commission are not given directly to the Commission. All donor funds are tied to specific projects like establishment of the Commission’s Training and Research Institute (TRI) in Karu, Abuja equipment the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), installing media equipments etcetera.     

The fund managers of these donations are the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) who impose strict procurement and contracting procedures in compliance with international standards. Hence, with such bureaucratic bottlenecks in the handling, of the finances of the Commission, innovative and emergency financial issues become jeopardized. In addition to this, the Commission has never kept a single kobo of the billions of naira it has recovered in the last few years of existence, be it from petty fraudsters or big time crooks. Such policies of the E.F.C.C. also puts the Commission in a stringent condition not to have much money for huge activities.

2.4.5   Partnership with Foreign Agencies
            So far, the Commission has enjoyed support from the following agencies.
-           British Department of International Development (DEID)
-           The World Bank as part of Economic Reforms and Government Project (ERGP)    
-           The United Nations Development Program (UNDP)
-           The United State Agency for International Development (USAID)
Besides the above mentioned partnership with the listed agencies, it is paramount to know also that the Commission has enjoyed immense support from the United States Government. A proof of it is the courtesy visit by the U.S. Deputy Secretary of State, Mr. John D. Negroponte, in which the then former chairman of the Commission Mallam Nuhu Ribadu acknowledge the support given to the Commission by the US in the area of training and retraining of the staff of the Commission. 
Another partnership is obvious in the conduction of postal interdiction operations by E.F.C.C., U.K. and U.S. agencies in Lagos. The global counterfeit financial instrument initiative operations held at the pre-exporting mail processing centers of major courier companies such as NIPOST, FED-ex, UPS, and DHL yielded the interception of 15, 129 counterfeit cheques.25
Share on Google Plus

Declaimer - MARTINS LIBRARY

The publications and/or documents on this website are provided for general information purposes only. Your use of any of these sample documents is subjected to your own decision NB: Join our Social Media Network on Google Plus | Facebook | Twitter | Linkedin

READ RECENT UPDATES HERE