THE Federal Government is not thinking of merging the operations of the Economic and Financial Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) and other anti-graft agencies, the Chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee on Anti-Corruption, Prof Itse Sagay has said.
Speaking on the sideline of a conference on anti-corruption by the Institute of Directors of Nigeria (IoDs) in Lagos, Sagay said issue bordering on what he described as fusion or amalgamation of functions of anti-graft institutions and their corollaries is not in the radar of the Federal Government for now.
He said what Nigerians are seeing or perceiving as attempts by the government to combine the functions of the agencies for effective operation, do not really reflect the intention of the government on the issue.
He said: “EFFC, ICPC, CCB and others are not been considered for merger for now, despite the fact that that their roles are similar or subsumed into one another in order to ensure effective tackling of corruption issue and related vices. Though discussions are on-going on the issue, for now, it is not likely that the organisations would be merge.’’
Sagay said the Federal Government is giving attention to the training of judges and lawyers to enable them handle corruption cases well, stressing that the government has identified and selected judges that would handle corruption cases in the country.
“The judges were selected across the country. They are selected across the states in the country. The fact that they are selected, does not mean that other judges are not good enough to handle issues relating to misappropriation of funds, stealing and other corrupt issues. The government only wants to ensure that corruption is tackled headlong for the growth of the country, “ he added.
The former Dean, Faculty of Law, University of Benin and Obafemi Awolowo University ( Ile Ife) said corruption has become a disturbing issue in Nigeria, in view of the stunning revelations of corrupt practices which the country is battling to grapple with now.
According to him, judges and other accomplices in corruption matters are devising different ingenuous methods of collecting bribe every day.
He said some people are collecting cash as bribe, stressing that they do not want the money to be paid into their accounts for fear of being traced.