- EFCC’s exposure of hidden funds calls for investigations on the whos, hows and wherefores of the cache
Nigeria’s ship of state is today literally marooned in the desolate place of severe economic recession with the vast majority of the populace slipping deeper into poverty in its diverse manifestations. Yet, this pervasive scarcity of money to sustain life in a meaningful way for millions of Nigerians exists side by side with the apparent superfluity of funds, albeit illegally acquired and hidden away in the most unbelievable of places, to satisfy the greed of a conscienceless minority.
The discovery in recent times of huge illicit cash hauls comprising diverse currencies in the most nondescript of locations is unquestionably a positive fallout of the current anti-corruption onslaught, which is a signal policy of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration. In particular, the new administrative initiative, designed to encourage Nigerians to report cases of corruption to the authorities with the promise of whistleblowers receiving 2.5% to 5% of recovered ill-gotten funds, has been largely responsible for the exposure of these astounding cases of brazen rape of the public treasury.
In one of the shock finds in February this year, for instance, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), recovered $9.8 million and another 74,000 Pounds Sterling belonging to Mr Andrew Yakubu, a former Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in the Sabon Tasha slum area of Kaduna State. On March 4, the anti-crime agency seized bundles of purported luggage containing about N49 million abandoned by yet unknown persons at Kaduna Airport. The public was to be once again traumatised not long after on April 7, when another huge discovery of N448 million was made and confiscated at a bureau de change shop in Victoria Island, Lagos; a premise that had reportedly been abandoned for two years.
Right now, the EFCC and the presidency are striving to get to the root of the latest and largest mystery recovery so far of the humongous cash of $43 million, N23.2 million and 27, 800 pounds in a flat at the Osborne Towers, a highbrow residential apartment in Ikoyi, Lagos. This is not to mention the substantial sums of money traced to a number of obscure and shadowy accounts in some banks. Ordinarily, these serial high profile revelations and impoundment of plundered funds ought to earn the anti-corruption agency deserved plaudits. Rather, and perhaps understandably, the EFCC has been widely criticised for its failure in virtually all cases to identify and disclose the owners of the seized funds.
True, a valid case can always be made for the anti-corruption agencies to enhance their efficiency through more rigorous and painstaking investigations, making maximum use of the latest scientific and technological innovations. Even then, there is also some merit in the immediate public disclosure of these uncovered stolen funds without waiting to discover who the owners are. For one, these operations are necessarily surreptitious and designed to achieve maximum surprise. Delaying the announcement of recovered funds may give perpetrators of the crime the opportunity of pre-emptive action to distort, manipulate and confuse public opinion to their advantage.
Again, apart from leading to unhealthy rumours and speculations, cloaking the recovered funds in a veil of secrecy under the guise of further investigations may make anti-corruption agents vulnerable to the temptation of entering into noxious pecuniary deals to the detriment of the credibility of the anti-graft war. The important and commendable thing is that the EFCC immediately seeks legal forfeiture of confiscated funds to the Federal Government, thus making it imperative for anyone laying claim to such money to prove their case in the open court or forever keep his or her peace. It is equally important to make full public closure of how these recovered funds are ultimately expended to prevent their being re-looted and enhance public confidence.
