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Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mrs Farida Waziri, has called for the support of the judiciary in the fight against corruption.
Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mrs Farida Waziri, has called for the support of the judiciary in the fight against corruption.
Mrs Waziri who made the call when she received the Romanian Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Marian Parjol, in her office said without the support of the judiciary, achieving success in the arduous fight against corruption will be impossible.
'The end product of prosecution is conviction. This is why we need the support and cooperation of the judiciary if we have to make a head way in the fight against corruption in Nigeria. We have slow judicial process, we are trying to see if we can improve the laws," she said.
She reiterated her earlier call for the establishment of special courts for economic and financial crimes as done in some countries like USA and the UK.
She said the establishment of the special courts and the forfeiture of assets law would strengthen the fight against corruption as the forfeiture law, for instance, shifts the burden of proof from the prosecution to the owner of property who will be asked to account for how he made his money.
The ambassador who congratulated Waziri on her appointment said there was no doubt that she has one of the most difficult jobs in the world.
'I want to wish you a great deal of success in this historical mission. Taking such a job is like having the sword behind your head and working in hard conditions. In the meantime, all eyes are watching you, personally and the institution itself, from inside and outside the country, maybe more than the political class sometimes. The job you took is extremely important for the country," he said.
The ambassador, who revealed that he has been trying to persuade his countrymen to come and invest in Nigeria, said he was, however, disturbed by the impression that some of them have about Nigeria.
However, Mrs Waziri assured him that the government was determined to change all that and that EFCC will play its part.
'What we want to do is that we want to begin to re-orientate Nigerians right from the school age, teaching them about patriotism, and that corruption doesnot pay because if you are patriotic, you will think about the repercussion and the consequences it will have," she said.
She assured Romanian business community that the President Umar Musa Yar'Adua-led government is determined to rid the nation of all forms of economic and financial crimes with its zero tolerance policy on corruption, adding that this has further boosted the courage of the commission to fight corruption to a standstill.
Ambassador Parjol who said his country faced the challenge of corruption but has made considerable progress since it became part of the European Union later presented to Mrs Waziri, a document entitled: Recent Progress in the Reform of the Judiciary and Fight against Corruption in Romania.
The ambassador said he was of the view that the EFCC chairman would find the document useful in her determined effort to exterminate corruption in Nigeria. While he prayed for God's protection for the leadership of the commission, he equally canvassed for the support of the judiciary for the commission, as he noted that the judiciary was vital in the fight against corruption.