The acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mohammed Umar Abba on Friday, proposed the appointment desk/liaison officers in both the EFCC
and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC ), dedicated towards improving communication and seamless relations between the two agencies of government.
He made the proposal during a courtesy visit to the EFCC Head office by the management of the NNPC, led by its Group Managing Director, Mr. Mele Kyari.
Abba expressed delight that the NNPC has been responsive to requests from EFCC, noting that the desk officers would further bridge the communication gap and the delays the Commission sometimes encounter from the Corporation in its investigative activities.
He commended the NNPC GMD for inviting the EFCC for forensic evaluation of the corporation’s Kano chemical laboratory. Abba assured Kyari that “the EFCC will continue to partner NNPC in matters of mutual interests and to the benefit of the country.”
The EFCC boss stressed the need for the NNPC to consider the invitation of the Commission’s operatives involved in maritime, oil and gas investigations, to the corporation’s future seminars and conferences with the view exposing them to current trends and techniques in oil and gas operations that would enhance their investigative skills.
While noting the primary place of enhanced intelligence sharing between both agencies of government, Kyari observed that the NNPC has been a partner to the EFCC in diverse ways and promised to continue to work with the anti-graft agency to contain corruption in the corporation, eliminate discretion, “and any excesses that may be existing anywhere in our system.”
According to him: “Working with the EFCC is a matter of responsibility for the NNPC. As I speak, we have up to eight or nine cases in which the EFCC is helping us recover proceeds from criminals and vandals of our resources.
“We have gotten positive results in many of these and we will continue to seek the support of the chairman and his team to see that they all come to fruition as soon as possible.”
He assured the EFCC boss that his leadership has deployed all possible measures to stem corruption in the corporation. “In the corporation today, we are doing everything possible to take away discretion, because discretion is what breeds corruption and we are aligning our procedures to the right systems.”