The Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC has indicated its readiness to collaborate with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, in a bid to curb the proliferation of identity forgery and fight the menace of global money laundering. This position was disclosed on Tuesday, January 10th , 2012 by the Corp Marshall and Chief Executive, Mr. Osita Chidoka while on a courtesy visit to the Acting Chairman of the EFCC, Mr Ibrahim Lamorde.
Chidoka explained to Lamorde and other top management staff of the EFCC that the old driver’s license has been compromised by fraudsters within and outside Nigeria, which necessitated the introduction of a new driver’s license based on a robust data base with unique identification systems to replace the old one. He also informed the EFCC that because the driver’s License was the most common means of identification required by financial institutions in most transactions, the new license will stop fraudsters from operating multiple bank accounts. He urged the EFCC to support the new driver’s license initiative by persuading all financial institutions to embrace it.
“We believe it was possible for people to open multiple bank accounts in Nigeria using different names because they can access multiple drivers’ license. That can be stopped if we use the new driver’s license. The implication of that is that the EFCC should get the entire banks’ customers to recertify their account details, working with the existing drivers licenses used for opening bank account; this means that any bank customer that does not have the new driver’s license ought not to have an account opened beginning this year. In that way, people with multiple accounts using the old drivers license, will be forced to close them down”, he said.
In response, Lamorde thanked the FRSC for re-kindling the need for collaboration between the two law enforcement agencies and commended the initiatives that have gone into the design and introduction of the new driver’s license. The Acting chairman agreed that identity forgery has been a big clog in the wheel of the operations of the EFCC and assured that the EFCC will do all it can to key into the new license regime.
Lamorde bared his mind on the imperatives of good identity management system in fighting economic crimes, saying that identity clarity will greatly assist the EFCC in its task of fighting graft. He urged the FRSC to always furnish the EFCC with vehicle registration details of exotic cars of suspicious and dubious ownership. This, he said, will aid in tracking fraudulent transactions
“Most of the inquiries we do with your Commission have more to do with the driver’s license, but we are also interested in the vehicle registration details because we believe that most financial criminals love to drive exotic cars. These cars will be registered. You see, an individual buying two, three cars and registering them on the same day. We would want your Commission to assist us in such cases, as such cars worth over N100 million could be proceeds of illegitimate wealth”, he said.
He also thanked the FRSC for its support in the prosecution of cases the EFCC is handling through sending its officers and men to testify in court whenever the need arises. The Acting Chairman also signed his commitment to the “Decade of Action programme” being championed by the FRSC.
The FRSC is the first law enforcement agency to visit the Acting Chairman since he took over the mantle of leadership of the EFCC in November last year.
The delegation led by the Corp Marshall also comprised Mrs Janet Adipegba, Special Assistant to the Corp Marshal; Kingsley Agomoh, Corp Logistics, FRSC; Joseph Peter Udom, Corp Protocol Officer and Umar Benjamin, ADC to the Corp Marshal.
Chidoka explained to Lamorde and other top management staff of the EFCC that the old driver’s license has been compromised by fraudsters within and outside Nigeria, which necessitated the introduction of a new driver’s license based on a robust data base with unique identification systems to replace the old one. He also informed the EFCC that because the driver’s License was the most common means of identification required by financial institutions in most transactions, the new license will stop fraudsters from operating multiple bank accounts. He urged the EFCC to support the new driver’s license initiative by persuading all financial institutions to embrace it.
“We believe it was possible for people to open multiple bank accounts in Nigeria using different names because they can access multiple drivers’ license. That can be stopped if we use the new driver’s license. The implication of that is that the EFCC should get the entire banks’ customers to recertify their account details, working with the existing drivers licenses used for opening bank account; this means that any bank customer that does not have the new driver’s license ought not to have an account opened beginning this year. In that way, people with multiple accounts using the old drivers license, will be forced to close them down”, he said.
In response, Lamorde thanked the FRSC for re-kindling the need for collaboration between the two law enforcement agencies and commended the initiatives that have gone into the design and introduction of the new driver’s license. The Acting chairman agreed that identity forgery has been a big clog in the wheel of the operations of the EFCC and assured that the EFCC will do all it can to key into the new license regime.
Lamorde bared his mind on the imperatives of good identity management system in fighting economic crimes, saying that identity clarity will greatly assist the EFCC in its task of fighting graft. He urged the FRSC to always furnish the EFCC with vehicle registration details of exotic cars of suspicious and dubious ownership. This, he said, will aid in tracking fraudulent transactions
“Most of the inquiries we do with your Commission have more to do with the driver’s license, but we are also interested in the vehicle registration details because we believe that most financial criminals love to drive exotic cars. These cars will be registered. You see, an individual buying two, three cars and registering them on the same day. We would want your Commission to assist us in such cases, as such cars worth over N100 million could be proceeds of illegitimate wealth”, he said.
He also thanked the FRSC for its support in the prosecution of cases the EFCC is handling through sending its officers and men to testify in court whenever the need arises. The Acting Chairman also signed his commitment to the “Decade of Action programme” being championed by the FRSC.
The FRSC is the first law enforcement agency to visit the Acting Chairman since he took over the mantle of leadership of the EFCC in November last year.
The delegation led by the Corp Marshall also comprised Mrs Janet Adipegba, Special Assistant to the Corp Marshal; Kingsley Agomoh, Corp Logistics, FRSC; Joseph Peter Udom, Corp Protocol Officer and Umar Benjamin, ADC to the Corp Marshal.
