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Reviewing The National Seminar On Economic Crime By Ibrahim Balarabe (PUBLIC AFFAIRS UNIT, EFCC)
The recently concluded 4 day national seminar on economic crimes in Nigeria with the Theme “Curbing Economic Crime in Emerging Economies : Challenges and Options”, organized by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and held at the Commission’s Institute for Training and Research situated at Karu on the outskirts of Abuja, witnessed a huge turn out of crème-de-la-crème of intellectuals, law enforcement agents, top government officials as well as governors of industries among others, who brain stormed for the four days running tackling issues concerning economic crimes and their consequences to emerging economies around the globe.
A range of topics discussed at this gathering of significance, included papers presented by various invitees in their own capacities as authorities in their own chosen fields. The ball was set rolling by President Olusegun Obasanjo who at the executive session, that was on the opening day, Saturday August 6, 2005, declared the Seminar open and delivered a paper titled “Governance and Corruption in Nigeria”. In his paper, the President, in many parts stressed the need to seriously fight corruption which he described as a subject which has cost Nigeria and Nigerians so much pain and which also challenges the essence of our very existence as a nation.
The President further pointed out that while his administration was campaigning for debt relief from debtor nations, Nigeria’s corruption profile and negative perception was a factor that complicated its arguments and prolonged the negotiations. He reminded Nigerians that a fundamental re-orientation needs to take place and hence solicited the conviction of the elites in our society to be a vanguard of this re-orientation, urging them to but first re-orientate themselves. “As torch bearers the elite must lead by example and their conducts and character in both private and public service must reflect that spirit of total and undiluted opposition to corruption and any criminal conduct.” Obasanjo added.
The following days of the Seminar also witnessed a high turn out and as mentioned earlier, more papers were presented on topics like, cyber crime and national security, terrorism, the role of financial service sector in combating money laundering in Nigeria, the role of the judiciary in combating such crimes as well as challenges of prosecuting economic and financial crimes, a paper ably presented by the Executive Chairman of the EFCC Malam Nuhu Ribadu. Ribadu on his part, told the gathering that prior to the establishment of EFCC in the year 2003, the incidence of corruption and moral failure had affected virtually every facet of our society and that in the 80s and 90s, corruption became manifestly ingrained and institutionalized in Nigeria’s body-politics. Criminals and fraudsters operated recklessly due to their positions or influence in the society.
Lamenting about the position being taken by alleged criminals and their cronies, Ribadu said the moment a case is entered against some important personalities in the society, they start soliciting for assistance or favour from top government officials, traditional rulers and prominent or eminent people in the society, requesting them to intervene on their behalf. The alleged criminals also influence their family members, friends and associates to put undue pressure on the Commission.
Other disturbing interferences on the Commission’s work as cited by the chairman include offer of bribes, either by the suspects themselves, their lawyers or other interested persons, subtle blackmail and even vicious threat and on some occasions, they try to beat the drum of persecution due to their ethnicity, tribe or religious sentiments. We must however realize that the commission does not work by any sentiments since its composition include persons from different Nigerian ethnic groups, tribes and religions.
It is also the assertion of Ribadu that in spite of the attempts by persons arraigned for economic or financial crimes, the Commission’s resolve is unshaken as the judiciary and other stake holders in the fight against these crimes, have continued to give a strong support, where for example, certain judges were designated in some judicial divisions of the High Court and Federal High Court to handle cases emanating from the Commission. Also special investigating teams were assigned by the EFCC to handle matters of bank fraud cases, advance fee fraud `419`, stock exchange frauds, money laundering et cetera.
Another contentious issue raised at the seminar is that of the need for the amendment of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, especially and particularly section 308 (immunity from prosecution). This section according to those against it, needs to be expunged or at least re amended to go with the current reality of the kind of leaders we have in our society. The fact that some holders of offices protected under the said section cunningly hide behind it to perpetrate crimes including those which attract criminal charges, makes it the more reason why proponents of its amendment felt it has outlived its usefulness. They argued that some governors for example, knowing fully well that they are covered by this unfortunate section of our Constitution, engage in out right theft and embezzlement of public funds entrusted to them. Some even do it with impunity. A recent case of a governor from the “Middle Belt” region of Nigeria is a typical example of this shameful act. It may also be the case with another one from the South-South who was not fortunate enough and was arrested for alleged money laundering by the police in London.
At the end of the Seminar a range of resolutions were put forward by the participants with the intention that if applied, the menace of corruption and associated crimes in the country would be greatly reduced and the nation will have a breather to move forward in its quest for economic, social and political development. Some of the points raised include the need for government to speed up the on going reforms in the administration of justice sector and in particular the review of criminal procedure code, criminal law and the evidence law in line with modern realities.
Also the participants sought for the introduction of the use of biometric fingerprints as a means to avoid prevailing problem of identity theft/identity fraud. In addition, anti - spam and data protection laws were to be introduced and that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) should be compelled by law to implement spam filtering measure. Another bone of contention according to the participants at the seminar is the issue of the continuous retention of Nigeria in the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) list of non-cooperative countries and Territories (NCCTs), which they insisted is unacceptable and that everything must be done to remove the country’s name from the list.
In order to achieve this objective, the participants at the end called on all agencies responsible for the process of removing Nigeria’s name from the shame-list of PATF to work diligently and together with the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) domicile in the EFCC to realize this objective within the shortest possible time.
As the primary objective of EFCC is to fight corruption in all its ramifications as we stated earlier, the seminar also closed with the serious recommendation that in order to enforce a wider strategy to effectively combat corruption and other forms of economic crimes, civil forfeiture regime should as a matter of urgency be incorporated in Nigeria’s criminal justice system with the aim to facilitate a speedier confiscation of tainted assets which on account of technicalities, may not be easily taken under normal criminal law process. Given the scarcity of law enforcement resources, it is vital that the law provides that forfeited property must be used for law enforcement.
In conclusion we must state that the four day seminar was a success and the caliber of speakers and participants would suggest positive of this assertion. Also as the debate on the best way to tackle corruption and other economic crimes in Nigeria is continuously unfolding, it is vital that the lesson we learnt from this seminar be put into practice and all suggestions and or observations made by the participants, be taken seriously so that at the end of the day this gathering would not be a waste of time as the EFCC under the able leadership of Malam Nuhu Ribadu, is completely committed to execute anything legal that would assist it in discharging its mandate of fighting economic and financial crimes in Nigeria. |