Former Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Nuhu Ribadu has revealed that Nigeria is the only African nation to recover stolen money abroad. Ribadu spoke at an anti corruption townhall meeting, entitled “A spanner in the wheel of corruption,” organised by Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Foundation and held in Abuja on Monday.
According to him, the nation’s anti corruption body must be ready to fight corruption where they have made remarkable progress.“Nigeria is the only country that has successfully recovered stolen money taken abroad. Other countries in Africa and other places have tried but they never succeeded". he said.
He decried the high rate of corruption in the country, pointing out that Nigeria had the highest number of corruption cases in the world, which is “probably bigger” than cases in all African countries put together.
Meanwhile, Nuhu Ribadu has also stated that the commission has done well in its war against corruption. He said for the war to be successful, law enforcement agencies like the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the police must “wake up from their slumber.”He noted that the EFCC alone has over 3800 ongoing corruption cases in the courts, not to talk of other cases.
Ribadu said: “They (EFCC) has done fairly well. You need to see what these people go through to get one case to court. It is hell. Because some people will do everything possible to make sure you don’t drag them to court. They do not even sleep.
"Let the ICPC wake up from this their slumber and start doing something too. Same with government ministries. There are lots of government agencies that are not doing anything to support the fight against corruption.
"The Nigeria police force should also wake up and do what the EFCC is doing. Same with the law enforcement agencies and the judiciary; why are we not getting the convictions in the corruption cases? They have a role to play as well.”
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