The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) have agreed to strengthen collaboration in fighting corruption in the extractive sector, to ensure full recovery of revenues due the Federal government.
Addressing the NEITI Executive Secretary, Dr. Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, during his visit to the EFCC headquarters in Jabi, Abuja, the Executive Chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa encouraged NEITI to utilise the capacity of the anti-corruption agency in extractive industries fraud investigation, in order to accomplish its statutory task.
“We have developed expertise in oil and gas investigation. We did oil subsidy investigation, we did oil swap investigation; we did OML and OPL investigations, which resulted in billions of naira being recovered. We can work together to ensure that what rightly belongs to Nigeria is ours,” Bawa said.
He specifically urged the NEITI boss to take advantage of the Extractive Industries Fraud Section of the Commission, which was created exclusively to tackle fraud in the extractive sector.
Bawa said: “In 2012, the EFCC set up a special team for petroleum subsidy, which I was part of. At the end of our assignment, it was changed into a permanent section in the EFCC. It was changed from special team for petroleum subsidy to Extractive Industry Fraud Section, and the EFCC did not stop at that. We ensured that every Zone of the Commission has that section.”
The EFCC boss also expressed the desire to have NEITI participate in a project on fraud risk assessment in the petroleum industry.
“We have engaged the Minister of Petroleum Resources, and we are working towards having a fraud risk assessment for all the agencies under the ministry, and with that will come fraud risk management. I will discuss with the ministry that NEITI is a part of it. We have to do all we have to do to ensure that what is due to this country is paid into the coffers. With your help and information sharing, we can do this,” Bawa said.
Earlier in his remarks, Orji said he came to the EFCC to strengthen the existing relationship between the two agencies. He noted that NEITI, since its establishment, it has been upfront in the discharge of its responsibilities, culminating in substantial improvement in revenue remittances in the oil and gas sector.
Apart from improving revenue accruals to the government, Orji credited the agency with the Petroleum Industries Bill (PIB).
He said: “PIB did not come from the blues. It was NEITI that recommended it.”
He, however, expressed regret that the Bill has not been passed into law due to contending interests.
For that, Orji said that NEITI is handicapped by the fact that it has no enforcement powers.
“We are here to deepen our relationship because we don’t have teeth to bite. Our law does not allow us to arrest, does not allow us to prosecute, but we are allowed to go to other agencies for collaboration with those that can bite, and that is why we are here. Please give us the teeth to bite,” he pleaded, humorously.
Orji further observed that the two agencies have a Memorandum of Understanding, (MoU) which is yet to be formalized. He thus requested that the document be signed by the agency heads and a special desk created for seamless relationship and information sharing.
To that, Bawa said, with or without MoU, the EFCC is willing to strengthen its collaboration with NEITI.
He, however, directed that immediate steps be taken to get the MoU signed.
The EFCC boss further offered to assist NEITI in building the capacity of its workforce with training opportunities at the EFCC Academy.
