By Attah Ede
Owing to the large scale of corruption in the public sector in the country, the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, has revealed that the commission receives over 20,000 petitions on public corruption annually.
He disclosed this during the 80th birthday celebration of former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Kanu Agabi, held in Abuja.
The EFCC boss said the volume and nature of the complaints reflected the depth of the corruption challenge confronting Nigeria.
According to him, some of the cases investigated by the commission involved public officials whose financial positions changed dramatically after assuming office.
“I receive over 20,000 petitions in a year in respect of public corruption, all terrible. What is going on? Every minute, public officers take money, and if you go through some of our case files, you will weep.”
He said the alleged diversion of public resources was not merely a matter for law enforcement agencies.
He argued that Nigerians were collectively affected by the consequences of corruption.
“The way people take national resources, as Nigerians, we’re victims of these fraudulent activities. And we must come together for once in our lifetime and say no to the activities of some of our leaders,” he said.
The EFCC chairman further disclosed that investigations sometimes traced substantial dollar and naira assets to public servants who had comparatively modest financial positions before assuming office.
According to him, some officials allegedly accumulated millions of dollars and naira within three or four years in public office, while others were linked to the ownership of large numbers of houses.
“Somebody will spend three to four years as a public servant, but before he got to office, he had less than N100,000 in his account. By the time he’s leaving, we were able to trace several millions of dollars and naira to him,” Olukoyede said.
“Some build 50-something houses, sometimes 200 houses. There’s no way a nation will develop with those kinds of people in power, no way,” he added.
He said public office holders should be prepared to account for their stewardship, stressing that transparency and accountability must remain central to the management of public resources.
Also speaking at the event, the Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Musa Adamu Aliyu, identified societal acceptance of corrupt practices and weaknesses within public institutions as major factors sustaining corruption.
“The major challenge of corruption in this country is that we tolerate the culture of corruption; that is why it is thriving. Secondly, we have systemic errors; our systems are weak,” Aliyu said.
The ICPC chairman consequently called for integrity education to begin early, particularly in primary and secondary schools, saying younger Nigerians must be deliberately exposed to values that discourage corruption.
He urged stakeholders to engage members of Generation Z and Generation Alpha on the importance of integrity and responsible citizenship.
“We need to tell them that we want them to imbibe the culture of integrity,” he said.
