THE Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, has disclosed that more than 40 staff members of the commission have been dismissed for corruption and financial malpractice in the past three years.
Olukoyede made the disclosure on Monday at the EFCC headquarters in Abuja while briefing journalists on the achievements of the commission under his leadership, saying more than five of the affected personnel were already facing prosecution.
News Point Nigeria reports that the EFCC chairman said the disciplinary measures were part of efforts to strengthen accountability and ensure that personnel of the anti-graft agency were not shielded when they became involved in corrupt practices.
“In the past two and a half years or three years of my service, I’ve asked them to dismiss over 40 staff on account of corruption and financial malpractice. More than five of them are being prosecuted at the moment,” Olukoyede said.
He questioned why EFCC personnel involved in corruption should be treated differently from suspects arrested and investigated by the commission for similar offences.
“Because if that is what people do in other agencies and I arrest them, I investigate them, I prosecute them, why must I just dismiss you if you do it within our own system and I’m not prosecuting you?”
The EFCC chairman said some of the affected staff members were already being prosecuted, while case files involving others were being prepared for prosecution.
“You can follow those cases in court; they are public knowledge,” he said.
Olukoyede also disclosed that the commission had renamed its erstwhile Department of Internal Affairs as the Department of Ethics and Integrity, saying the change was intended to reflect the agency’s commitment to what he described as “internal cleansing.”
He said the EFCC had also designed a gift policy for its personnel as part of measures aimed at strengthening accountability and ensuring greater transparency within the commission.
According to him, staff members would be required to declare assets valued above a specified threshold, including gifts received from relatives abroad.
He explained that the commission would determine the types of gifts personnel could accept, adding that the policy would help ensure that staff members could account for their means of livelihood and standard of living.
“You must be sure that your hands are clean. You can’t be fighting corruption when your hands are soiled with corrupt practices,” Olukoyede added.