The preponderance of economic and financial crimes like Advance Fee Fraud (419), Money Laundering, etc has had severe negative consequences on Nigeria, including decreased Foreign Direct Investments in the country and tainting of Nigeria's national image. The menace of these crimes and the recognition of the magnitude and gravity of the situation led to the establishment of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The legal instrument backing the Commission is the attached EFCC (Establishment) Act 2002 and the Commission has high-Ievel support from the Presidency, the Legislature and key security and law enforcement agencies in Nigeria.
Establishing Act
The Act mandates the EFCC to combat financial and economic crimes. The Commission is empowered to prevent, investigate, prosecute and penalise economic and financial crimes and is charged with the responsibility of enforcing the provisions of other laws and regulations relating to economic and financial crimes, including:
Economic and Financial Crimes commision Establishment act (2004)
The Money Laundering Act 1995
The Money Laundering (Prohibition) act 2004
The Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act 1995
The Failed Banks (Recovery of Debts) and Financial Malpractices in Banks Act 1994
The Banks and other Financial Institutions Act 1991; and
Miscellaneous Offences Act
The Operations
The most common way of accepting cases by EFCC is through a petition written by an individual or organization. The petition will be evaluated and if the case falls within the purview of the commission's mandate, it will be
accepted for investigation and possibly prosecution. Petitions
that do not fall within the purview of the commission are
sent to the appropriate agency, be it the Nigeria Police Force,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Independent
Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission,
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), etc. Members of the public can
also send complaints electronically to the commission email
address: info@efccnigeria.orgThis e-mail address is being
protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to
view it .
The commission has had complaints and also investigated
cases where fraudsters impersonated the EFCC Chairman
and other employees of commission in order to defraud
them. The public should be aware that EFCC does not
collect money to receive petitions and does not charge fee
from victims to investigate their cases. Emails messages not
emanating from our domain (i.e. bearing @efccnigeria.org) should be verified.
The Operations unit is the investigative arm of the EFCC headed by the Director of Operations. Below are the various sections under the Unit:
About the ICPC
The swearing-in of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo on 29 May 1999, as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces was a political watershed for Nigeria after several years of military rule and it marked a new dawn for Nigeria in more ways than one, not least in the fight against corruption. At the time the civilian administration came into power, corruption in Nigeria had indeed become a full blown cancer. In 1999, Transparency International Corruption Perception Index rated Nigeria the second most corrupt nation in the world.
Although corruption is a global malaise, the extent of its reach in the country was tragically stupendous. All indicators showed that the spread of this cancer had become frightening. It pervaded private and public institutions and overwhelmed all levels of government.
The price of corruption has been extremely high. The economic, political, social and moral bases of the country have been severely eroded and degraded. It has brought us near the brink and almost rendered us helpless and hopeless. Even religious institutions, the gate keepers of the nation's moral conscience, were not immune to the ravages of the cancer. It became imperative that something drastic had to be done to arrest the rot. This impelled the commitment of the President to tackle corruption head-on.
The ICPC Act 2000 brought a fresh and decisive perspective to the fight against corruption in the form of a holistic approach encompassing enforcement, prevention and educational measures. It captures in a single document, a host of corrupt offences in their old and sophisticated guises. It sets up the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission with wide-ranging powers. The Act brings under its purview all Nigerians, in the private and public sectors and even those public officers with constitutional immunity.
Independent Corrupt Practices And Other Related Offences Commission was inaugurated on September 29th, 2000 by the Nigerian President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, GCFR.
The commission is at the hub of Nigeria 's fight against corruption. The main duty of the commission is to receive complaints, investigate and prosecute offenders. Other duties include education and enlightenment of the public about and against bribery, corruption and related offences. The commission also has the task of reviewing and modifying the activities of public bodies, where such practices may aid corruption.
The Chairman and Members of the Commission are as follows:
1. Hon. Justice Emmanuel O. Ayoola JSC, CFR
2. Alhaji A. R. K. Saba
3. Ambassador Dr. Uriah Angulu
4. Senator Adejo Ogiri
5. Dr. Tukur Bello Ingawa mni, OON - Secretary to the Commission
Membership of the Commission
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences th Commission was inaugurated on the 29 of September, 2000 by President Olusegun Obasanjo. As provided for in Section 3(3) of the Act 2000, the Commission consists of a Chairman and twelve (12) Members, two of whom represent each of the six geo-political zones of the country. The membership is drawn from the following categories of Nigerians as spelt out by the Act:
- A retired Police Officer not below the rank of Commissioner of Police;
- A legal practitioner with at least 10 years post-call experience;
- A retired Judge of a superior court of record;
- A retired Public Servant not below the rank of a Director;
- A woman;
- A youth not being less than 21 or more than 30 years of age at the time of his or her appointment; and
- A chartered accountant.
The Act provides that the Chairman and Members of the Commission, who shall be persons of proven integrity, shall be appointed by the President upon confirmation by the Senate and shall not begin to discharge their duties until they have declared their assets and liabilities as prescribed in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The tenure of office for the Chairman is five (5) years while that of the Members is four (4) years in the first instance.
The Act also provides for the position of a Secretary to the Commission who is to be appointed by the President. The Commission is granted the powers to appoint, deploy, discipline and determine the conditions of service of its staff. Section 3 (14) of the Act enshrines the independence of the Commission by providing that “the Commission shall in the discharge of its functions under this Act, not be subject to the direction or control of any other person or authority”.
The Esblishment Act
The bill seeks to prohibit and prescribe punishment for corrupt practices and other related offences. It establishes an independent corrupt practices and other related offences commission, vesting it with the responsibilities for investigation and prosecuting of offenders thereof.
Provision has also been made for the protection of anybody who gives information to commission in respect of an offence committed or likely to be committed by any other person.
The Operations
1. Following government's acceptance of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC)'s recommendation that an Anti-Corruption and Transparency Unit should be set up in each Ministry, Agency and Parastatal and since such Units are already in operation in, at least fifty eight (58) Ministries, Agency, etc, it has become necessary to put in place uniform operational guidelines/modalities for their use.
2. Also, in view of certain developments, it has not been possible for the Commission to implement fully, the prescriptions in the Head of Service of the Federation's Circular No. OHCSF/MSO/192/94 of 02/10/01; consequently, the Commission has recently advised the Head of Service as follows:
* the total staff composition of each Unit should be between four (4) and seven (7), depending on the size or other peculiarities of the Ministry or Agency concerned;
* both the financial and other associated needs of the Units should continue to be met by the respective Ministries and Agencies; and
* the Units should have their budgets separately reflected in the Approved Book of Estimates with separate sub-heads.
3. As anti-corruption monitoring outfits, the Units shall function as the main link between Ministries and Government Agencies on the one hand and the Commission on the other. They will also assist the Commission in the following specific areas:
(i) Receive oral and/or written reports of conspiracy to commit/attempt to commit an offence of corruption.
(ii) To Submit both the initial report and their comments to the Secretary of the Commission with copies to the Permanent Secretary/Chief Executive. All these shall be completed within thirty (30) working days.
(iii) To examine the practices, systems and procedures in the Ministries, Agencies, etc., and where in the opinion of the Unit, such practices, systems or procedures aid – facilitate fraud or corruption, it shall submit a detailed report with recommendations to the Secretary of the Commission for appropriate action with copies to the Permanent Secretary/Chief Executive.
(iv) Arising from
(iii) above, proffer recommendations with regard to the specific number of days a file should “spend or stay” on officer's desk. In arriving at the recommendations, the special peculiarity of each subject matter should be borne in mind.
(v) To educate all officials of the Ministries, Agencies, etc., on and against bribery, corruption and related offences by organizing seminars, lectures, placing of appropriate and well reasoned anti-corruption posters in very conspicuous places within the Ministries' premises and also the distribution of anti-corruption handbills to visitors to the Ministries, Agencies, etc.
(vi) To meet at least once every month to discuss/review its activities. Minutes of such meetings shall be forwarded to the Secretary of the Commission.
(vii) To submit at the end of every quarter, a Report of its activities to the Secretary of the Commission.
(viii) To submit at the end of every year, a detailed Annual Report of its activities to the Secretary of the Commission.
(ix) To prepare Action Plan for the Unit's activities before the beginning of every year and make copies available to the Secretary of the Commission for approval.
(x) Without prejudice to sub-paragraph 3 (iv) – (viii) above, the Units shall have constant consultations with the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission.
