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Those plotting my removal are candidates for Kirikiri
Prisons –EFCC Chair Waziri
Newsdiaryonline Tue Aug 16,2011
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC and the
Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria
,FMBN have signed a Memorandum of Understanding, MOU that will
facilitate the provision of mass housing for operatives of the
anti-graft agency.
The MOU
signed by the EFCC chairman, Mrs Farida Waziri, Secretary to the
Commission, Emmanuel Akomaye and the Managing Director of FMBN,
Mr Gimba Ya’u Kumo. Speaking at the event, Waziri said that the
MOU is an important milestone aimed at boosting the welfare of
staff of the EFCC, adding that staff welfare has always been a
major concern for the leadership of the Commission. While
thanking the management of the bank for agreeing to work in
concert with EFCC on the scheme, she said that the MOU is not
merely a fulfilment by the FMBN of its statutory obligation but
should be seen as the bank’s contribution to the anti-corruption
work of the EFCC.
Waziri said the gesture was meant to improve the morale of staff
and aid their zero tolerance for corrupt practices.
The Managing Director of the bank, Mr. Gimba Ya’u Kumo,
who commended Waziri for making staff welfare an important item
of her administration explained that his bank believes that
housing agenda was an effective tool in the fight against
corruption. “….one of the major purposes for this courtesy call
is to also advocate for the housing agenda as an effective tool
in fighting corruption. This is so because housing satisfies the
basic need for shelter and provides economic and financial
empowerment to households who can utilise the equity in their
housing assets to access credits”, he added.
In another dimension, Kumo lauded Waziri’s initiatives in
working to bring many unscrupulous Nigerians to book stressing
that “this is evident in the rising number of both high-profile
and less prominent cases the EFCC has prosecuted to date”.
Fielding questions from journalists earlier, Waziri described
her three years experience in fighting corruption in Nigeria
as head of EFCC as
difficult and dangerous. She said that though the fight is
risky, she remains solid and un-swerving in her commitments to
it. “Fighting
corruption is like holding a tiger by the tail. We know it is a
dangerous thing to do, but someone has to do it in the interest
of our nation and I find myself discharging that responsibility
at this critical moment of our nationhood”, she said.
Reacting to a question on some media reports on an alleged move
being made to remove her , the EFCC boss said she knows those
behind the reports. “I know those behind them. But for the
culture of impunity in this part of the world, these are people
who should be in Bama or Kirikiri prisons by now. By bringing my
husband into this now means it’s a dirty politics back home in
Gombe state”.
“Don’t forget we
are investigating some ex-governors now and if you study the
pattern of attacks on the Commission and myself, such usually
gain prominence anytime we have high profile persons we are
closing in on”.
Farida said even
with their resources and network for mischief, “I am not
deterred because I have made history as a woman not just with my
records of achievements in EFCC but equally as the first woman
to head the Special Fraud Unit of the Police where I recorded
the first conviction in the case of Advance Fee Fraud in Nigeria
a. k. a 419 and subsequently 11 convictions within two years on
that seat”
She said that in EFCC, “the records speak volumes as well. I
moved the records of high profile cases from about 10 inherited
from my predecessor in 2008 to about 70 today. We recorded the
first high profile conviction to be determined through the
normal court trial and upheld by the appeal court. I can go on
and on, so no amount of mischief can change the records”, she
explained.
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