Ebun Francis || Ibrahim Magu, the Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission, EFCC on Thursday said the era of untouchables in the fight against corruption in the country is over.
Wilson Uwajaren said in a statement that the anti-crime boss made the declaration while presenting a paper on; ‘Corruption and National Development: Issues, Challenges and Solutions’, at the 20th-anniversary public lecture and award ceremony of the Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria (FICAN) in Abuja.
He identified corruption as the major reason why the country has been unable to actualize her potential.
Magu was quoted to have said, “We are winning the war against corruption, because the age of impunity is over, and never again would anyone be treated as sacred cow.”
“We are blessed with both human and mineral resources. But why have we been unable to explore and exploit our potential to the fullest? Your answer is as good as mine – corruption.”
“Anywhere in the world where strict adherence to ethics and values by the citizenry is lacking, there will always be obvious deficit in morals, which is the antidote to corruption.
“As far as we are striving to fight corruption to a standstill in Nigeria, sadly, it is fighting back, really hard.
“This is why I am using this platform and opportunity to call on you all, members of the fourth estate of the realm, to support the fight against corruption,” he was quoted to have said, adding “that the agency remained unrelenting in ensuring that we rigorously pursue our mandate of ridding Nigeria of all forms of economic and financial crimes”.
The EFCC boss urged Journalists to explore the power of the pen, “to push for reforms in the judiciary, and society at large, by exposing corrupt elements”.