My policy directive is to stimulate economy with anti-graft war – Olukoyede

By Ayorinde Oluokun/Abuja

The Chairman of Economics and Financial and Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ola Olukoyede has reiterated that his policy directive was to stimulate the Nigerian economy with the anti-graft war.

Olukoyede said this on Friday when the Managing Director and Chief Executive of Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation, NDIC, Thompson Oludare Sunday led a team of the management staff on a courtesy visit to his office in Abuja.

The EFCC boss said his aim was to enhance the capacities of other government agencies through needful interventions.

“One of the things I promised when I resumed was to use the instrumentality of this work to stimulate the economy, not just to make noise all over the place; to strengthen and encourage the internal processes of entities that are doing well and design fraud risk assessment for them.

“That was what necessitated my establishing a new department called Fraud Risk Assessment and Control. We don’t have to always wait for money to be stolen. Let us work with you and stakeholders in the economy to fine tune our system and make sure that we clean our financial ecosystem. You’re a key player in that area, and we are always willing to collaborate with you,” he said.

Olukoyede, also noted that NDIC and EFCC have a longstanding record of collaboration, pledged to amplify the working relationship.

He emphasized that the NDIC and EFCC are like inseparable twins, working together for years.

He reminded the NDIC’s boss that the EFCC had been supporting his agency in the area of investigation, while the NDIC had been supporting the EFCC in the area of training.

“So, there has been this mutually beneficial relationship between NDIC and EFCC and we never intend to stop. We’ll continue to take it to a higher level, and continue to strengthen it”, he said.

Speaking earlier at the occasion, Sunday stressed that the visit offered an opportunity for formal engagement with the EFCC for further collaboration between the two organizations.

“We aim to further strengthen our collaboration, deepen institutional synergy and explore additional avenues for mutual support in the pursuit of national financial system stability. The EFCC has been our partner and we want this to continue. We look forward to an expanded and more impactful partnership between our two esteemed institutions.”

He stated that the NDIC sought to leverage on the EFCC’s technical expertise in asset tracing, recovery and management, particularly in cases involving debtors of banks in liquidation.

“Your experience has and will continue to greatly enhance our recovery efforts. Additionally, we have that strategic responsibility for prosecuting individuals whose actions contribute to the failure of banks. We therefore seek closer collaboration with the Commission in this critical area,” the NDIC boss said.