The Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ola Olukoyede, has reiterated his commitment to leveraging the anti-corruption fight to stimulate economic growth in Nigeria.
Olukoyede made this statement in Abuja on Thursday, while receiving the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Export-Import (NEXIM) Bank, Mallam Abba Bello, who paid a courtesy visit to the EFCC headquarters.
Expressing delight at the visit, Olukoyede emphasized that both EFCC and NEXIM Bank share a common goal of fostering economic growth. “We have shared mandates with your bank as an export-import promoting bank, which is to grow the economy. Doing that, you are promoting the economy, and on our part, one of our mandates is to also use the instrumentality of the fight against corruption to grow the economy. So, from that perspective, I believe we have a shared mandate,” he stated.
The EFCC boss commended Bello for successfully steering NEXIM Bank from financial distress to a profitable institution. “You deserve a round of applause for turning the institution around. To have done that is no joke at all. It’s a major responsibility because you have to deal with both external and internal factors. Even changing the orientation of the people you met on the ground, changing the system, the processes, and all of that takes a lot. For you to have achieved that milestone, I think you need to be applauded and also be encouraged to do more,” he said.
While clarifying that the EFCC is not a debt recovery agency, Olukoyede explained that the Commission intervenes in cases where unpaid debts pose a risk of economic sabotage. He pointed out that many non-performing loans have underlying fraudulent elements and assured that the EFCC would take decisive action against such cases.
“We are careful about the way we come in, particularly when it comes to the issue of loan recovery. We look at the area of economic sabotage. When somebody is granted a loan, particularly if the money is from the commonwealth or from investors’ resources in a bank, and they divert the money or fail to use it for its intended purpose, that is economic sabotage. More than 90% of bad loans have underlying fraud,” he asserted.
Earlier, NEXIM Bank’s Managing Director, Mallam Abba Bello, expressed gratitude to the EFCC for assisting the bank in addressing cases of loan abuse and financial misconduct. “The EFCC helped us and played a leading role in the recovery of monies that were given out fraudulently or without following due process,” he noted.
Bello also appealed to the EFCC to continue assisting in the recovery of loans taken by former internal staffers of the bank. Additionally, he sought collaboration with the Commission in fraud prevention, emphasizing the need to deter individuals from engaging in corrupt practices.
“We can partner with the EFCC either as participants or in stopping individuals from engaging in fraudulent activities. Instead of engaging in financial crimes, we would be giving them an option to train and engage in the export value chain,” he suggested.