Date Published: 08/15/11

EFCC, FMBN sign MOU on Mass Houses for Staff

Farida Waziri

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC and the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria , FMBN have signed a Memorandum of Understanding, MOU that will facilitate the provision of mass housing for operatives of the anti-graft agency.

     The MOU signed by the EFCC chairman, Mrs Farida Waziri, Secretary to the Commission, Emmanuel Akomaye and the Managing Director of FMBN, Mr Gimba Ya’u Kumo.   Speaking at the event, Waziri said that the MOU is an important milestone aimed at boosting the welfare of staff of the EFCC, adding that staff welfare has always been a major concern for the leadership of the Commission. While thanking the management of the bank for agreeing to work in concert with EFCC on the scheme, she said that the MOU is not merely a fulfillment by the FMBN of its statutory obligation but should be seen as the bank’s contribution to the anti-corruption work of the EFCC.

Waziri said the gesture was meant to improve the morale of staff and aid their zero tolerance for corrupt practices.  The Managing Director of the bank, Mr. Gimba Ya’u Kumo, who commended Waziri for making staff welfare an important item of her administration explained that his bank believes that housing agenda was an effective tool in the fight against corruption. “….one of the major purposes for this courtesy call is to also advocate for the housing agenda as an effective tool in fighting corruption. This is so because housing satisfies the basic need for shelter and provides economic and financial empowerment to households who can utilise the equity in their housing assets to access credits”, he added.

In another dimension, Kumo lauded Waziri’s initiatives in working to bring many unscrupulous Nigerians to book stressing that “this is evident in the rising number of both high-profile and less prominent cases the EFCC has prosecuted to date”.

Fielding questions from journalists earlier, Waziri described her three years experience in fighting corruption in Nigeria as head of EFCC as difficult and dangerous. She said that though the fight is risky, she remains solid and un-swerving in her commitments to it.  “ Fighting corruption is like holding a tiger by the tail.   We know it is a dangerous thing to do, but someone has to do it in the interest of our nation and I find myself discharging that responsibility at this critical moment of our nationhood”, she said.

Reacting to a question on some media reports on an alleged move being made to remove her , the EFCC boss said she knows those behind the reports. “I know those behind them. But for the culture of impunity in this part of the world, these are people who should be in Bama or Kirikiri prisons by now. By bringing my husband into this now means it’s a dirty politics back home in |Gombe state”.

  “Don’t forget we are investigating some ex-governors now and if you study the pattern of attacks on the Commission and myself, such usually gain prominence anytime we have high profile persons we are closing in on”.

  Farida said even with their resources and network for mischief, “I am not deterred because I have made history as a woman not just with my records of achievements in EFCC but equally as the first woman to head the Special Fraud Unit of the Police where I recorded the first conviction in the case of Advance Fee Fraud in Nigeria a. k. a 419 and subsequently 11 convictions within two years on that seat”

She said that in EFCC, “the records speak volumes as well. I moved the records of high profile cases from about 10 inherited from my predecessor in 2008 to about 70 today. We recorded the first high profile conviction to be determined through the normal court trial and upheld by the appeal court. I can go on and on, so no amount of mischief can change the records”, she explained.