Nigeria: Corruption - EFCC Blames Judiciary For Slow Impact

Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mrs. Farida Waziri has blamed the Nigerian Judiciary for the slow impact of the war against corruption in Nigeria.

Mrs. Waziri said in a chat with newsmen recently that even if EFCC continued recording arrests, "The effect is felt only when a man has been sentenced and you see him being taken into prison and he gets to prison and people see it."

She said Nigerians' faith in the anti-corruption war can only be boosted when corrupt top public officials are sentenced and jailed for criminal offences.

The EFCC chairman said in Nigeria top public officials facing trial act like "political heroes."

"But you see people taken to court and they are smiling and waving as if they are political heroes. Meanwhile they are being arraigned for criminal cases and they are waving like Mandela,"'she said.

She said EFCC was not only focusing its investigations on Federal and State executives but also bureaucrats adding that "the evidence is the trial of officials in Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Rural Electrification Agency (REA) and Transcorps."

Mrs. Waziri said the Anti-Corruption Revolution (ANCOR) campaign recently introduced by the anti-graft agency is aimed at encouraging Nigerians to serve as whistle blowers on their erring representatives in government.

She said EFCC will educate the populace to monitor projects in their localities ensuring that funds are used for what they are meant for.