The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has decried its inability to secure convictions in corruption cases, including high-profile ones.
The spokesman for the EFCC, Wilson Uwajaren, in an interview with journalists in Kaduna State, highlighted some of the challenges impeding the speedy prosecution of corruption cases and securing convictions.
According to him, the losses are due to what he described as frivolous court judgements based on technicalities rather than the facts and national interest, as well as arbitrary adjournment of corruption cases, among other factors.
Uwajaren, who shared the insight at a one-day workshop for media practitioners on Effective Reporting of EFCC activities held in Kaduna state, also disclosed that the commission secured about 7,700 convictions across the country in 2022.
In his remarks, the acting Chairman of the commission, Abdulkarim Chukkol, expressed concern over the rising Internet-related fraud among the youth in Kaduna State.
The EFCC chairman, who was represented by the state’s acting Zonal Commander, Aisha Abubakar, observed that the active participation of youths in Internet-related fraud had the potential to stain the country’s image and, as a result, discourage hard work and genuine means of subsistence.
He asked the media to shine a spotlight on the threat of Internet crimes and sufficiently inform the public about the actions of such criminal elements in order to protect them from being fraud.
Chukkol also restated the “unwavering” commitment of the EFCC towards eradicating all forms of economic and financial crimes in the country, noting that such efforts had led to the conviction of over 100 financial crime offenders in the Kaduna zonal office alone.
