Emma Okonji
The Executive Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ola Olukoyede, has said that the enactment of appropriate policy and regulation can tame cybercrime activities, including financial crimes, without applying the necessary enforcement strategies.
Olukoyede, who said this during the inauguration of the Awka Zone of the EFCC in Anambra State, insisted that past experience has shown that the application of the right policies and regulation have helped Nigeria in curbing cybercrimes and financial crimes without enforcement by the EFCC.
Citing the policy that established the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) for tertiary institution students, the EFCC boss said, that singular policy has drastically reduced cybercrime that was prevalent among young Nigerians who indulge in cybercrime activities, just to pay their school fees and survive on campus.
“Before NELFUND was established by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, most of the people that commit cybercrime ‘419’, are the youth. Majority of them are students of tertiary institutions and when we bring them forward for questioning as to why they indulge in cybercrimes, some of them genuinely tell us they can’t afford to pay their school fees, and that they needed money to pay their school fees and survive on campus because their parents are poor and cannot afford to pay their school fees,” Olukoyede said.
According to him, to curb the situation, President Tinubu directed that the proceeds of crime be channeled to support NELFUND. He said, that right policy has helped
hundreds of thousands of students to pay their school fees, adding that the implication is that the federal government has been able to take close to one million of the student beneficiaries out of the docket of the people that have the potential to commit cybercrimes.
“That is the effect of a single policy of the federal government that has pulled several students out of cybercrime activities, without involving the EFCC implementation strategies,” he said.
The EFCC boss also cited another instance with the fuel subsidy removal by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“Upon the assumption of office, Mr. President made a policy statement and said:
‘Fuel subsidy is gone’. And I will tell you the implication of that on financial crimes investigation and prosecution in Nigeria. Before the fuel subsidy removal, we have about 80 cases of fuel subsidy in court. And some of those cases were filed way back 2013, 2014, and 2015, and we are still investigating the cases. We have been able to deal with less than 20 per cent of those cases in court as I speak and we don’t know whether we’re going to bring that to an end.
“But since the policy statement on the removal of fuel subsidy, the cases of financial crimes on fuel subsidy have dropped completely and that is the best way to fight corruption,” Olukoyede said.
According to him, some Nigerians still argue that EFCC must deal with the corruption rather than removing the fuel subsidy. He however said in fraud management, “there is what we call the principle of responsive elasticity, which says you should make a choice,” adding that he will rather stick with the right policy that eliminates corruption, than to continue fighting corruption that has been entrenched in the system for too long.
“So, these are some of the ways to fight corruption and financial crimes, and not just about law enforcement. Policy and regulations can block the leakages, going through standard procurement processes. These are the ways that we are also introducing into the regime because we are convinced that EFCC cannot defeat corruption alone,” Olukoyede further said.
He therefore called for ethical reorientation of the Nigerian people and advised political leaders, opinion leaders, civil societies, and traditional rulers to join the EFCC and the federal government in addressing cybercrime and financial crime activities in the country.
He said such collaboration would prevent fraudulent transactions before citizens lose their savings, strengthen procurement systems before public resources are diverted, and interrupt criminal financial flows before they mature. He added that the collaboration would also save the nation of enormous economic and social costs.
He reassured the people of Anambra State that the establishment of the EFCC Awka Zone, would not witch-hunt the good people of the state, but would rather enforce the law professionally and courageously, to protect the citizens of the state and its environs, such that their finances and that of government will be protected for the good of the people.
“The EFCC Awka Zone will engage government institutions, businesses, financial institutions, professional bodies, schools, markets, civil society organisations, traditional rulers, traditional institutions, religious bodies, and communities. It will educate stakeholders, build relationships, and mobilise the people to hold the fight against all forms of corrupt practices in the zone,” the EFCC boss said.