The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has said its directive to bankers to declare their assets was not a “witch hunt” but aimed sanitizing the banking sector.
The EFCC had in March directed all bank executives to declare their assets latest by June 1.
EFCC Chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa, disclosed this in Abeokuta at the opening of a two-day capacity building workshop for security agencies organised by the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC).
“The theme of the workshop is “Effective Investigation and Prosecution of Banking Malpractices in Nigeria”.
The anti-graft agency said the directive was in line with the Bank Employees, ETC. (Declaration of Assets) Act 1986, enacted to ensure adequate measures in sanitising the nation’s financial system.
Represented by the EFCC Lagos Zonal Commander, Mohammed Ghali, Bawa said the clarification became necessary because many people had misconstrued the measure for a “witch hunt.”
“Knowing the rots that permeate the nation’s banking sector, the directive was born out of efforts to sanitise the banking sector, but it was received with mixed feeling,
“It is obvious that those who kicked or are still kicking against the directive, are ignorant of the unmistakable details of the Bank Employees Declaration of Assets Act.”
“Unlike the claims in some quarters, it is not a witch-hunt; rather, it is part of measures to sanitise the country’s financial institutions,” he said.
Mr Bawa declared that in carrying out the responsibility of ridding Nigeria of corruption, as mandated by the EFCC Establishment Act, he had realised that “there is a slew of corrupt practices going on in the banking sector”.
He, however, reiterated the agency’s commitment to ridding the banking sector of the malpractices.
He explained that the situation had prompted the EFCC, under his watch, to intensify engagement with bank executives, more than ever before.
He assured that the anti-graft agency, through its Bank Fraud Section, would continue to prevent fraudulent practices in the banking sector and prosecute perpetrators of such fraud.
Mr Bawa described the EFCC and the NDIC as co-runners on the anti-corruption tracks, racing to improve the image of Nigeria in the international community.
Earlier in his opening address, the Managing Director of NDIC, Mr Bello Hassan, noted that “human element is the greatest culprit in bank failure”.
”It has been said over and over, that banks do not on their own fail, rather, they are destroyed and brought to their knees by acts of officers entrusted to look after the institutions.
