The Senate has said that it would embark on a constitutional amendment that would empower the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate and prosecute military officers accused of corruption and other financial crimes.
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The Chairman, Senate Committee on Anti-corruption and Financial Crimes, Senator Emmanuel Udende, stated this on Monday, when members of the committee visited the headquarters of the anti-graft agency in Abuja.
According to the Senate Committee Chairman, most of the challenges faced by the EFCC could be addressed through the constitution and budgetary process.
He decried a situation where the agency can only investigate and prosecute a serving military personnel, after a court-martial.
“The situation where a court rules that a military man cannot be investigated and prosecuted, unless he goes to a court-martial, we think, runs counter to the EFCC Act.
“We thought that we would do that by amendment of the EFCC law itself, so that they will have the powers to do the investigation and do the prosecution”, the lawmaker said.
Meanwhile, Udende stated that the committee would ensure increase in the budget of the Commission, going by the remarkable achievements of the Commission of recent, especially under the current chairman, Mr. Ola Olukoyede.
Udende said: “As a committee, we want to commend the Chairman and his team for doing a very wonderful job. I couldn’t believe it when I saw the report. And nobody has come forward to dispute this report.
“As a committee, we are satisfied that they have done a good job. We were going to lay this report before the Senate for its consideration, but as a committee we are satisfied.
“We have gone through the budget performance. We are also satisfied that they have done a good job, within the limited resources that they have”.
He however, identified the lack of understanding from many Nigerians, who usually accused the lawmakers of budget padding, each time they appropriate beyond what was sent by the executive arm of government.
He explained that what the executive brings is a draft, and only becomes a law or an act after it was deliberated and passed by the legislators.
“When you look at an agency like EFCC and say they need this much, and you put the money there Nigerians will say you can’t pay the money….. I was deputy chairman of the committee between 2015 and 2019. I was a member of the committee.
We decided that these headquarters must be completed. By the time the budget came out, people were pissing us off. That is the biggest problem that we have in this country, that lawmakers are not allowed to do their job”, he said.
Earlier, Olukoyede sought the cooperation of the lawmakers in the fight against corruption, stressing that corruption is the reason behind all the challenges facing Nigeria.
The EFCC boss who observed that the mandate of the committee is very critical for the progress of Nigeria, charged the lawmakers to support the agency in eradicating corruption from Nigeria.
“And we know the state of our security or insecurity. And I think one of the things that’s very critical to some of these problems we are having is the issue of corruption.
“Some of the money is allocated to some of these infrastructural issues. One way or the other are either diverted or upon the application of the money, we don’t get value”, Olukoyede said.
He reiterated his pledge made on the floor of the Senate, during his confirmation, to fight corruption to a standstill through various policy initiatives, stressing that in the last one year, the Commission has recovered billions of cash both in local and foreign currencies.
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