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