The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has blamed corruption for the decay of infrastructure in the country. Head of Public Enlightenment Unit of the Commission, Mrs. Rose Ekawu, stated this while declaring open a one day sensitization programme on the ills of corruption for officers of the Federal Fire Service in Abuja.
She said infrastructural facilities have collapsed because those charged with their maintenance failed in their duties.
Mrs. Ekawu who described the sensitization programme as part of the Commission’s mandate under the EFCC Establishment Act 2004 explained that enlightening Nigerians on the consequences of economic crimes and corruption will go a long way in curbing the menace.
According to her, “everybody wants a decent society. It is obvious that nobody want a society where there is no rule of law, where professional ethics are only academic subjects learned and forgotten in school”. Considering the country’s enormous natural resources endowments, Mrs Ekawu noted that poverty ought to have no place in Nigeria.
“Unfortunately, economic mismanagement, corruption and lack of accountability and transparency have been the bane of poor economic performance and rising poverty. It is the light of this that we at the EFCC welcome genuine efforts at enlightening the sector that is crucial to our development”
She therefore enjoined officers of the Service to join hands with the anti-graft agency in the fight against corruption and economic crimes.
David Nkpe and Chinwe Ndubeze, who represented the Commission’s Directors of Operations and Legal respectively, observed that corruption is the reason for lack of sustainable development in post- colonial Nigeria.
In his opening remark, the Controller General of the Nigeria Fire Service, Engr. Olusegun James Okebiorun commended the EFCC for the sensitization programme and assured that the service will partner with the EFCC in the difficult task of fighting corruption and economic crimes.
“There is no doubt that corruption is the major problem of the country. If there is no concerted effort at ridding the country of the menace, there will surely be no positive development”,he declared.
