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Group Accuses Anti-graft Agency, EFCC Of Failure To Investigate Corruption Petitions After Two Years

September 1, 2021

According to the letter, the petitions were mainly o n Kwara projects executed by the Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

A civic organisation, the Elites Network for Sustainable Development (ENetSuD), has said the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission refused to give feedback on some petitions it tabled before the anti-graft agency for several years.

The ENetSuD accused the EFCC of sabotage over its failure to appropriately deal with at least four petitions before it since 2019. 

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The anti-corruption body in a letter to the EFCC on Wednesday, Sept. 1, signed by its Coordinator, Dr Abdullateef Alagbonsi, and titled, “Request for Updates on four of our petitions investigated by the EFCC” expressed worries for lack of positive feedback from the commission since two years ago.

According to the letter, the petitions were mainly o n Kwara projects executed by the Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

In a letter addressed to the Ilorin Zonal Commander, of the anti-graft agency, ENetSuD forwarded eight petitions to the EFCC regarding mismanagement and diversion of public funds released to various Ministries, Departments and Agencies for the execution of projects in Kwara State but has not got positive feedback over the years.

Some of the petitions dating as far back as 2019 have not yielded positive results as expected as the group alleged that there is no evidence that the agency carried out an investigation into its petition regarding the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria.

In the petition dated 20th February 2019, ENetSuD stated that SMEDAN conducted a N34million entrepreneurship and skill acquisition training for ghost beneficiaries.

The group further alleged that the beneficiaries’ lists of the Entrepreneurship and Skill Acquisition training projects (that cost thirty-four million naira) provided by SMEDAN were fake.

“After two and half years of submission of this petition at the Executive Chairman’s Office in Abuja Headquarters, no feedback was received on any action taken by the commission (EFCC)," ENetSuD wrote.

The letter read partly: “You may wish to recall our letter ENetSuD/EFCC/01/07 where we complained about some of our petitions that have been investigated by the EFCC but without any positive feedback, result or impact.

”Notwithstanding our reservations on the petitions, ENetSuD has been a consistent collaborator of the EFCC in the fight against corruption in Kwara State, especially in the area of project execution appropriated and funded by the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN).

“Our support for the anti-corruption fight (which is a core mandate of EFCC) is due to our belief that EFCC needs help and cannot fight corruption alone without the support of citizens and Civil Society Organizations like ours, especially as the anti-corruption fight is part of our core objectives.

”As part of our support for EFCC, we have forwarded eight (8) petitions concerning mismanagement and diversion of public funds released by governments to various Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) for the execution of projects in Kwara state (see the table below for a summary).

“In addition to our petitions, we have always provided convincing and classical documents and information to the EFCC that we strongly believe would be helpful in its investigation towards ensuring that the public funds work for the public.

“Despite the diligence and meticulousness of the EFCC in the investigation of projects 3, 5, and 6, we as the petitioner with the greatest interest are not satisfied since there is no evidence of results from such investigations.

“We will like to be specific as follow: We neither know if EFCC carried out any investigation on our petition against SMEDAN nor have any idea if any action was taken to address our complaints in the petition (project 1).

“EFCC reportedly concluded investigation on Abata Sunkere drainage (project 3) and planned to prosecute the offenders, but we are not aware that the prosecution has commenced to date.

“After 2 years of our petition, we are still waiting for the result. EFCC reportedly directed the contractor handling Oja Gboro (project 5) to the site to complete the work according to the BEME, but he has not fully complied with the purported directive. After two years of our petition, we are still waiting for the result.”