Foremost public affairs analyst Marshall Israel has advised the Chairman of the Economic and Financial crimes commission ( EFCC) Chairman about the urgent need to tackle the menace of fraud in the nation. His open letter made avaliable to news men reads :
THE CHAIRMAN,
ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL CRIMES COMMISSION, (EFCC)
THROUGH:
THE ZONAL COMANDER, ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL CRIMES COMMISSION,
6A OLUMENI STREET OLD G.R.A.,
PORT HARCOURT,
RIVERS STATE.
RISING PONZI SCHEMES, FRAUDULENT INVESTMENT COMPANIES AND INTERNET FRAUD IN NIGERIA.A CALL FOR PROACTIVE INVESTIGATION.
Dear Sir,
In a workshop organised in Abuja in 2023, the EFCC stated that between January 1 and August 5, 2023, it succeeded in securing 2,210 conviction of suspects across all its commands in the nation. This performance, according to reports is the highest conviction secured by the agency since its inception, a massive 127.5% increase from the 1280 convictions it has recorded in the past.
These achievements by your agency in the area of conviction of suspects are sterling and most deserving of public acclamation. Its is against this backdrop that I have chosen to open this letter with a note of commendation, particularly because ours is a society where condemnations and criticisms regularly greet the activities of most public and government agencies that their good records and achievements pale and count for nothing in most cases.
Another notable achievement recorded by your agency is its stout commitment towards reducing the menacing crime of advanced fee fraud popularly known as 419 in our local parlance. You have secured arrests, detentions, prosecutions and convictions of suspects involved in advance fee fraud and cyber crimes thereby indirectly reading the riot act to those involved in the crimes as well intending criminals.
However, the scope of your agency’s roles and responsibilities go beyond these achievements, thereby giving room for improvement in your activities, especially with respect to ponzi schemes, fraudulent investment companies, vote buying, money laundering, proactive investigation and awarenesses campaigns against financial and economic crimes.
Several Nigerians have fallen victim to ponzi schemes and many more continue to fall for these 21st century fraud yet there seem not to be enough effort on the part of anti-graft agencies like the EFCC to curb this growing menace and save innocent and unsuspecting members of the public their many losses.
The near silence and the snail-paced response of your agency and other relevant agencies in arresting the operators of these ponzi schemes have emboldened them to continue to operate by rebranding and presenting a different face just to continue manipulating and deceiving innocent Nigerians who are only trying to make ends meet.
I feel strongly that merely warning the public to desist from such schemes without a corresponding action by relevant government institutions to stamp out the operators of such scheme does not address the issue on ground, it is at best, hypocritical.
In the same vein, your agency needs to step up and beam its surveillance on the number of fraudulent Investment Companies in Nigeria. Some of these fraudulent companies parade themselves as product producers and vendors or service companies providing legitimate services only to abscond with investors funds after securing their trust.
I invite your Commission to deploy more resources and intelligence in this direction to detect such companies early enough before they defraud members of the public of their hard-earned resources. This, I believe is no rocket science and does not prove too hard for your agency if it is determined to bring this sad situation to an end.
Sir, another crime against society which I consider very critical and would like to use this medium to draw your attention to is the issue of vote buying. It is difficult to effectively separate the effects of vote buying from financial crimes and economic sabotage. While vote buying has the potential of proliferating bad leadership which in turn inadvertently or knowingly provides a thriving ground for financial and economic crimes, it is also a threat to democracy. With the 2023 general elections just by the corner, there is need for your agency to review its modus operandi and deploy strategies that would help it track vote buyers and their accomplices.
One way to achieve this is to partner with private and public establishments as well as individuals with the requisite experience in this area to ensure that vote buying is completely stamped out in 2023 general elections or at least reduced to the barest minimum.
I believe one major reason why it appears that the EFCC is selective in its fight against corruption is its lack of proactiveness and rather lackadaisical approach in carrying out investigations especially high profile cases. Adopting a more proactive approach in your operations would help the Commission gain more grounds and advantages in cases it is pursuing instead of being reactionary and engaging from a point of weakness.
To mitigate the growing rate in sundry economic and financial crimes prevalent in the Country, there is need for your agency to seek greater and more extensive collaborations while committing adequate resources towards awareness campaigns, education and orientation.
Drawing from my experience in the Public Complaints Commission, I am certain your agency is yet to fully take advantage of the enormous benefits awareness campaigns offers in terms of controlling the psychology of perpetrators of crime and intending criminals.
A well-planned awareness and orientation campaign against economic crimes and related vices has the potential of stamping out crimes by at least 50% even without additional efforts on the part of the Commission. I was able to use this strategy immensely in my catchment area as an Ombudsman to educate my people and create awareness about alternative dispute resolution mechanism which was one of my core area of focus. Within a short period, the number of disputes resolved outside court or police intervention soared immensely.
I must not fail to add that even though your agency has recorded successes in prosecution of suspects, reduction of advance fee fraud and cyber crimes as highlighted in the earlier paragraphs of this letter, it is yet to gain the confidence of Nigerians in its fight against financial and economic crimes.
The reason for this may be strongly linked to the fact that the Commission has not been able to successfully prosecute and bring to book many of the high profile cases it has handled. This scenario has helped in laying the foundations for the school of thought that most successes recorded by the EFCC are because those behind such crimes are mostly the middle-class or younger persons who do not have sufficient financial, political and social muscle to navigate their way out of the Commission’s net.
This assumption is worrisome and undermines the gains made by the EFCC. Hence, it is expedient that your agency looks into this issue and take necessary steps towards addressing it to save the corporate image of the Commission and win the confidence of the masses.
It is my hope that the successes you have recorded in some areas under your surveillance will spur you to consolidate on your gains while making genuine efforts towards replicating same feat in some of the areas I have painstakingly highlighted in this letter.
I and other patriotic Nigerians particularly those who have special interest in advocacy and the functionality and efficiency of public institutions look forward to see a more proactive EFCC.
You have the warmest assurances of my esteemed regards.
Yours Sincerely,
Marshall Israel,
Ombudsman, mediator, Peace-builder and Conciliator.
Portharcourt.
11th March, 2024
