Reps divided over EFCC crises

The opposition members of the House of Representatives and their counterpart from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party on Wednesday disagreed over the financial crisis rocking the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

EFCC was on Wednesday reported to be broke and was unable to pay its lawyers.

“It is impossible that the EFCC is broke,” House Majority Leader, Mr. Leo Ogor, exclaimed in a telephone interview with The PUNCH.

Ogor said that the House approved the budgetary proposals of the anti-graft agency without tampering with the details.

He claimed that the only grounds the commission could be broke was if it embarked on expenditure outside the budget approved for its operations.

“They came with a budget and we approved it for them. Maybe they are working outside their budget; it is not possible that they are broke.

“However, we shall look at their complaints in the next budget if any, to really understand what they are talking about,” Ogor added.

However, opposition members of the House observed that the alleged poor financial status of the EFCC called for a broader national investigation.

Lending the voice of the opposition, the Minority Leader of the House, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, asked whether Nigeria as a whole was  broke.

He called for an investigation into the financial health of the country at a time when states were being owed allocations for upwards of three months.

Gbajabiamila argued that a “national dialogue on Nigeria’s financial status” was more urgent compared to the national conference proposed by President Goodluck Jonathan.

“These are the issues ( like EFCC and Nigeria being broke) we have to look at and not the national dialogue that will take us nowhere.

“We need a dialogue on whether Nigeria is broke. Is Nigeria broke? How come states can no longer be paid their allocations?

“This has been on for three months and nobody is asking (any question)”, he said.

The Acting General Secretary of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Mr. Chris Uyot, said that the EFCC  was too strategic a commission to suffer funds starvation for whatever reason.

He said that effective operations of the EFCC was necessary for ensuring accountability and the blockage of leakages in the system.

The NLC Acting scribe said that the commission required proper funding to carry out its  statutory responsibilities.

Uyot called on the Federal Government to ensure that adequate funds were provided for the commission to carry out its functions in accordance with the law.

“We don’t think that it would be fair to starve such a vital institution (EFCC) of funds. Such an organisation requires financial muscle to do its work.

“No matter the cause of delay, the Federal Government should ensure that the commission has adequate funds to carry out its responsibilities.”

Efforts to speak with the EFCC spokesperson, Wilson Ujaren, failed as calls put through to his phone indicated it was switched off.

However, an operative of the Commission who did not want his name in print because he was not authorised to speak to the media, faulted the report.

He said, “Can you mention a lawyer that is working for EFCC that is not paid his legal fees? That is just rumours and such a report containing this type of weighty claim shouldn’t be based on rumours.

“What is the indices of saying the EFCC is broke. Of if you a have a programme and you are repackaging it, does that mean that you are broke.”

A public affairs commentator, Dr. Junaid Mohammed argued that President Jonathan had the powers to reverse the trend by funding the institution and giving it the powers to truly fight corruption.

Also commenting on the issue, two civil rights organisations, Anti-Corruption Network and Egalitarian Mission Africa on Wednesday reacted to the poor financial status of the EFCC with a declaration that the country was losing the crusade against graft.

While the Executive Director of ACN and former member of the House of Representatives, Dino Melaye suggested that the EFCC chairman, Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde should resign, the Executive Director of EMA and legal practitioner, Mr. Kayode Ajulo said the commission’s “last leadership made itself vulnerable to failure.”