EFCC recovers more than N5bn from fuel subsidy scams

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) disclosed on Monday that it had retrieved more than N5 billion taken from oil subsidy, while over 40 suspects are now being charged in court for the offense.
The Chairman of the commission, Ibrahim Lamorde, made the disclosure at a workshop organised for Journalists in the South-east zone held in Enugu.
Tagged: “Effective Reporting on Financial Crimes”, the EFCC chairman noted that it owed its modest achievements in the last eleven years to the active support of the Nigerian media and urged the them to act as whistle blowers by beaming searchlights on areas where corrupt practices thrive in the country.
According to him, “The anti-graft war cannot be won without the support of the media. We rely on you to help carry the message of anti- corruption to Nigerians and mobilise them to buy into the anti-corruption campaign as the anti-graft agencies alone cannot win the fight against corruption in the country.”
The anti-graft boss also revealed that the commission was investigating a case of fraud in an old generation bank in Port Harcourt, where a customer, working with his wife who works with the financial institution, defrauded the bank of N855 million.
Though he said that other accomplices in the scam were at large, Lamorde noted that the suspect, Uchenna Ogbonnaya Dike, cashed in on system glitches to perpetrate the scam over a period of five months, by transferring funds from the bank into accounts in the new generation bank.
The EFCC helmsman urged the media to be prepared to track the trial of corruption cases as that would not only help in putting such matters in public consciousness, it would also be a disincentive for compromise by “errant judicial officers”.
The workshop captured topics like: New Media and Economic Crimes Reporting, Investigative Journalism and Financial Crimes Reporting; and Media Ethics and Financial Crimes Reporting delivered by media experts that included Dotun Adekanbi, Egbuchukwu Nwaja and Blessing Olaifa respectively.
The resource persons noted that gross corruption, absence of good governance and lack of transparent leadership were endemic in the country because “economic crimes are frequently committed by people with considerable degree of respect in the country.”
They advocated for a synergy with the media to effectively fight economic crimes as these have resulted in threats to human and national security.