EFCC Sacks 40 Staff Over Corruption, Says Olukoyede
The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ola Olukoyede, has disclosed that more than 40 personnel have been dismissed for corruption and financial malpractice since he assumed office.
Olukoyede said more than five of the dismissed officers were currently being prosecuted, while case files involving others were being prepared for prosecution.
The EFCC chairman disclosed this on Monday during a briefing at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja on its activities under his leadership.
“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 said the commission would not shield its personnel from prosecution when they were found to have engaged in the same corrupt practices the EFCC investigates among members of the public.
“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?” he asked.
Olukoyede said some of the affected personnel were already facing trial, while the commission was preparing case files against others.
“You can follow those cases in court; they are public knowledge,” he said.
The EFCC chairman also disclosed that the commission had renamed its former Department of Internal Affairs as the Department of Ethics and Integrity as part of measures to strengthen internal accountability.
According to him, the change was intended to reflect the commission’s commitment to what he described as “internal cleansing”.
Olukoyede further revealed that the commission had developed a gift policy for its personnel to strengthen transparency and accountability among officers.
He said EFCC personnel would be required to declare assets above a specified threshold, including gifts received from relatives abroad.
The chairman said the commission would also determine the categories of gifts its personnel could accept, noting that the policy was aimed at ensuring officers 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 said.
