AN EASSY

ON

TOPIC: CRITICALLY EXAMINE THE PEFORMANCE OF ICPC, EFCC IN THE FIGHT AGAINST CORRPUTION IN NIGERIA

WRITTEN BY
AKPANG, MERCY EBOKPO
MATRIC NUMBER-10/BPA-5/014
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
UNIVERSITY OF CALABAR CALABAR

SUMBMITTED TO
MR. CHRIS N. (LECTURER)
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
UNIVERSITY OF CALABAR CALABAR

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE COURSE REQIREMENT (NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT & AND POLITICS 2

OCTOBER, 2012

TABLE OF CONTENT

INTRODUCTION
1.0 CONCEPTUALIZATION; CORRUPTION
1.1 A BRIEF HISTORY ON EFCC AND ICPC
1.2 CORRPUTION IN NIGERIA AND PROPELLING FACTORS THAT LEAD TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF EFCC AND ICPC
2.0 ACHIEVEMENT AND FAILURES OF EFCC AND ICPC CONCLUSION BIBLIOGRAPHY

INTRODUCTION Corruption in Nigeria is an endemic, pervasive and systematic problem, which over time has been perceived as capable of threatening the very existence of the nation. Combating corruption involves rebuilding Nigeria’s Sovereign National wealth. The Natural Capital made up in particular non-renewable energy resources and materials have been severely depleted and sold off, with most of the proceeds either looted or wasted through h mismanagement and ineffective use. Moreso, the overdependence on Natural Capital has led to the neglect of her Produced capital consisting of Infrastructure and value-Added Goods. Where resources were allocated towards the development of produced capital, the country has instead produced white elephant projects- lots of spending with poor results to show for it. The last component of sovereign National Wealth is made up of public goods such as facilities, agencies, institutions, rule of law, livable cities voices and accountability, access to quality education, healthcare free and fair election etc. where Nigeria is better off than many other countries on the level of Natural Wealth endowments, she lags behind on produced and intangible wealth so much so that countries like Ghana and Rwanda are catching up and leaving Nigeria behind. Studies have shown that the primary reason for Nigeria’s lack of progress since 1960 has been the failure to combat corruption effectively. Therefore the need to combat corruption and improve governance has been acknowledge by successive governments and people of Nigeria. As a result since independence there have been a vast number of institutions, laws and other initiatives to combat diverse manifestation of corruption. The Federal Government under President Obasanjo, took the fight against corruption to the front burner of National polices when he assumed the presidency of the country on May 29th 1999 with the creation of anti –corruption agency – The Independent Corrupt Practice Commission ICPC and the Economic and Financial Crime Commission EFCC and other related offences Commission.

1.0 CONCEPTUALIZATION: CORRPUTION There is no universal definition of the concept corruption as it is a cultural phenomenon which is perceived differently by differently people or scholars and as such various definition of the concept. Tanzi (1998) in Nnamdi (2012) Corruption: Development Crises that Corruption instability in Nigeria opines that corruption can be generally described as the abuse of public power for private benefit. Also, Nye (1967) defines corruption as behavior which deviates from the formal duties of a public rule because of private interest/regarding personal, close family, private clique) Pecuniary or status gain, or violates rules against the exercise of certain types of private behavior” Furthermore, Werlin (1973) sees corruption as the diversion of public resources to non-public purpose. It involves public holder directly and illegally appropriates public resource for his own private use or that of his relatives and friends. While Left (1964) argues that corruption in an extra-legal institution used by individuals or groups to gain influence over the actions of the Bureaucracy.

Moreso, the Oxford Concise Dictionary of Politics (2003) opines that corruption obtains when an official transfer a benefit to an individual who may not be entitled to the benefit. According to Ernest Harsch (1993:33) the term corruption conjures up certain common images but when examined more closely it involves a wide spectrum of practices of varying forms and significance. Also, Susan Rose Ackerman (cited in el-Rufai 2003:31) Corruption is an economic relationship between the government and the private sector. Hearts Ofoeze 2004:202) points out that corruption could be taken to mean any act, action or be taken to mean any act, action or inaction of any person or group (public or private) deliberately perpetrated to secure advantages for oneself a relation or associate or group(s) in a manner that detract from the accepted regulations, moral and/or ethnical standard or code and hence constituting a travestying of justice, equity and fair play.
The World Bank (1997) defines corruption as “the abuse of public power for private benefit”. The Transparency International (TI) defined it as “the abuse of entrusted power for private gain”. Mushtaq Khan (1996) views corruption as the “behaviour that deviates from the formal rules of conduct governing the action of someone in position of public authority because of private motives such as wealth, power or status”.

The Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) Act, 2000, defines corrupt acts to include “bribery, fraud and other related offences”. The Vision 2010 Committee defines corruption as “all those improper actions or transactions aimed at changing the normal course of events, judgments and position of trust”. From logical deduction in simple terms, corruption can be defines as a perversion or a change from good to bad, it involves the violation of established rules for personal gain.
1.1 CLASSIFICATION OF CORRPUTION
Corruption has been classified into major forms it includes; political corruption bureaucratic corruption and electoral corruption and electoral corruption, and sub-division include: nepotism, cronynism kickbacks, extortion, favourtism, craft, kleptocracy smuggling etc.
POLITICAL CORRPUTION: Political corruption occurs when the politicians and political decision makers who are meant to formulate, establish and implement the law in the name of the people, are corrupt. DIKE (2005) observed that political corruption takes place at the highest level of political authority. Political corruption takes place when policy formulation and legislation are tailored to benefit politicians and legislators.(NORAD,ch.4 Jan.2000; The Encyclopedia Americana 1999) has it that political corruption is sometimes seen as similar to corruption of greed as it affects the manner in which decisions are made as it manipulates political institutions, rules of procedure and distorts the institution of government. According to Daniel Kaufman (1997) political corruption involves the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. The misuse of government power for other purpose, such as repression of political opponents and general office brutality is considered as political corruption. Political corruption may facilitate criminal enterprise such as drug trafficking, money laundering and trafficking.
BUREAUCRATIC CORRPUTION: It occurs in public administration, bureaucrat corruption is encounter daily by citizens at different level location like the hospitals, schools local licensing office, police, tax offices etc. More so, NORAD, ch.4 2000) opines that bureaucratic corruption takes place at the implementation end of politics, for instance in government services like education and health where decisions on the distribution of the nation’s wealth and rules of the game are made.

ELECTORAL CORRUPTION: Electoral corruption is multifaceted, it includes purchase of votes with money promise of office or special favours, coercision intimidation, and interference with freedom of election; Nigeria for instance is a country where electoral malpractice is common; ie votes are bought, people are killed or maimed losers end up as the winners in elections and votes turn up in areas where they were no vote cast, sales of legislative votes, administrative or judicial decision, or judicial decision or governmental appointment (The American Encyclopedia America 1999)

1.2 A BRIEF HISTORY ON THE ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL CRIME COMMISSION (EFCC) AND INDEPENDENT CORRUPT PRACTICE COMMISSION (ICPC) The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Established by the EFCC (Establishment) Act 2002 and (repealed and re-enacted by EFCC) Act 2004 is a body corporate with perpetual succession and a common seal. It is designated Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) in Nigeria with powers to coordinate various institutions involved in the fight against money laundering and enforcement of all laws dealing with economic and financial crimes. The Commission‘s power also covers combating terrorism and terrorist financing.

Moreso, the Commission is also bestowed with the responsibility of enforcing the following laws including the money laundering (prohibition) Act 2004, Advance Free Fraud (and other Related Offences) Act 1995, the Failed Banks (Recovery of Debts) and other financial malpractices Act, 1994 as amended, the banks and other financial institutions Act 1991 as amended and the miscellaneous offences Act 1985. The Commission also has as its mandate, coordinating preventive and regulatory action, including introducing and maintaining an investigative and control techniques on the prevention of economic and financial crimes.

The objective of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) is “To make Nigeria a safe and corruption-free Business environment. for the sound health and positive image of the country and to curb the menace of corruption that constitute the cog in the wheel of progress; protect national and foreign investments in the country, imbibe the spirit of hard work in the citizenry and discourage ill gotten wealth, identify illegally acquired wealth and confiscate it; build an upright workforce in both public and private sectors of the economy and; contribute to the global war against financial crimes and terrorism financing.

2.0 BRIEF HISTORY ON INDEPENDENT CORRUPT PRACTICE COMMISSION (ICPC) The swearing-in of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo on 29 May 1999, as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces was a political watershed for Nigeria after several years of military rule and it marked a new dawn for Nigeria in more ways than one, not least in the fight against corruption. At the time the civilian administration came into power, corruption in Nigeria had indeed become a full blown cancer.

In 1999, Transparency International Corruption Perception Index rated Nigeria the second most corrupt nation in the world.
Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission was inaugurated on September 29th, 2000 by the Nigerian President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo GCFR. The ICPC Act 2000 brought a fresh and decisive perspective to the fight against corruption in the form of a holistic approach encompassing enforcement, prevention and educational measures.

It captures in a single document, a host of corrupt offences in their old and sophisticated guises. It sets up the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission with wide-ranging powers.

The Act brings under its purview all Nigerians, in the private and public sectors and even those public officers with constitutional immunity.
The commission is at the hub of Nigeria’s fight against corruption. The main duty of the commission is to receive complaints, investigate and prosecute offenders. Other duties include education and enlightenment of the public about and against bribery, corruption and related offences. The commission also has the task of reviewing and modifying the activities of public bodies, where such practices may aid corruption.

2.1 CORRPUTION IN NIGERIA AND PROPELING FACTORS THAT LED TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE COMMISSION; EFCC AND ICPC Corruption is a phenomenon that has been part of the human societies’ economic and political life since ancient times. On a general note, Lipset, et al (2000), Tanzi (1998) Mbaku (2000) and likes posits that corruption is nothing new. (Jain 1998). Based on the perception of Jain on the existence of corruption, it is noted that corruption has been present even in the pre-colonial societies which constitute the nation Nigeria. Falola (1998) notes that in the early years of British rule, there were complaints that emirs in the north and chiefs in the different regions were difficult to trust with money their guards stole money and fled and their local clerks were unreliable, he noted that colonial rule paved way for chiefs and kings to involve themselves in the collection of bribe, in his views those who assisted the British in conquering the country and maintain their control were rewarded with regular salaries and such assistance had to pay off. Colonial rule diluted the indigenous revenue base of the emirs and kings, tributes ended, toll gates were closed and gifts reduced as citizens began to use new agencies created by colonial government. Mbaku (1998) observed that there was urgent necessity to augment lost income promoted alternative searches which include the use of power for corruption. To those chiefs and kings who received income from government, the money was never enough to meet their traditional obligations. In their wisdom, they learnt how to use gifts, legitimate or illegitimate to augment their salaries. They also learnt that new colonial laws like those on taxation and the system offered them a lot of opportunities to enrich themselves. Again by the 1940s, the civil service was rife with corruption which had permeated every branch of the civil service thereby undermining the activities of the government. The Governor declared in 1946 that; one of the curses of this country was bribery and until there exist a national conscience which will condemn the practice and an individual one which will neither offer nor accept a bribe, no real progress can be made (Ibid Circular N0 141, 1946). By the 1940s, corruption was endemic in many departments that leading representatives of government began to express serious concern about it. However, Falola (2000) agrees that rather than halt, corruption intensified in scale during the period. Dearth of corruption in the country became manifest in the 1950s when a panel of enquiry was set up to look into the affairs of African Continental Bank (ACB) and Nnamdi Azikiwe (Chukwudum 20ti04) which in a separate investigation of the matter, Oke(2000) notes: E.O Eyo, the National Convention of Nigeria and the Cameroon’s (NCNC), Government chief whip in the Eastern regional parliament and chairman of Eastern Nigerian Development Company had leveled accusation of impropriety against the premier, the late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe. On July 24 1956, after much fabrication, the colonial secretary, Leonnox-Boyd, instituted a commission of inquiry headed by Sir Stafford Forster-Su ton, the Chief Justice of Nigeria then to investigate the grave allegation that Dr. Azikiwe put into the African Continental Bank (ABC) state funds worth two million pounds. The four-man commission in its report made public on January 16 1957 and found the premier guilty as charged. His conduct was said to have fallen short of the expectation of honest reasonable people. Three days later, on January 19, Regional Government made a deft political move to attenuate the political damage. Dr Azikiwe transferred his rights and interest in ABC to the government (Oke,2000 in the Source October 2, 2000:18). In the words of Okigbo what became the trend among the leading political parties of the era was abuse of state funds for the benefit of the parties. Corruption became a means to fund and consolidate political parties. New indigenous banks survived through state patronage and the bank in turn awarded loans to party members with little or no collateral”. According to him, an insider recounted the case of the Action Group in relation to the formation of the Nigerian Investment Property Company NIPC the major regional holding thus: “This company was devised as a conduit pipe to siphon government fund to the party confers. It was the creation of Chief Obafemi Awolowo when he was first leader of government business and later the Premier in the western Region. Large sums of money were made available on loan to the company used to acquire properties for its real estate business government lands known by then as crown land, were allocated to the company both in Lagos and Ibadan. This company was to finance the party. Some funds were paid directly to the company and the company paid such funds straights into the coffers of the part without deducting a penny (Akintola 1992 in Okeke, 2005:12).

Moreso, Okeke, 2005:12 reveals that Niger Sole Construction Company with expensive interest in the west built houses for several AG chieftains (2005:13).These were climaxed in 1962 when Chief Awo was dragged to court on a charge of accountability. This led to a call or an investigation of the relationship between his erstwhile government and the National Investment Property Company, which was said to be indebted to the western Regional Government to the tune £7,200.00.

On June (1962) the Federal Government appointed a commission headed by Justice G.B Coker to investigate the allegation and later the commission indicated Awolowo in its report. Consequently the Western Regional Government acquired all the property owned by the National Investment and Property Company (Chukwudum,2004).

Furthermore, in 1967, another Commission of enquiry was instituted to investigate assests of fifteen public officers in the defunct Mid-Western Region. At the conclusion of the panel’s report, all the public officers were indicated for corruptly enriching themselves. The panel recommended that they should forfeit such ill-gotten gains to the government. It was still on the basis of corruption that the First Republican Government was overthrown; Major Kaduna Nzeogwu together with his colleagues who carried out the coup harped on the theme corruption though he did not succeed in taking over government. He had declared in his dawn broadcast of the coup that brought the Nigeria’s Republic to an abrupt end; the political profiteers, the swindlers, the men in high and low places that seek to keep the country divided permanently so that they can remain, those that are in office as ministers or VIPS at least, the tribalists, the nepotist, these that make the country look big for nothing before the international circle, those have corrupted our society and put Nigeria political calendar back by their words and deeds” (Nzeogwu broadcast Jan 15 1966 in This Week, January 19 2987:15

Also, by March 1974, Nigeria was rocked by a cement scandal. The Federal Government placed an order for two million metric tons of cement, with various firms in the United States, Romania and USSR.” The supply was made to be through the National Supply Company.

However, in a sudden change, the Ministry of Defense which had placed order for 2.9 million tones for its construction projects placed an additional order for 16.23 metric tons. Despite the fact that the price for a tone of cement at that time stood at $25 and freight $15m Nigeria paid $115 per ton and someone made a profit of $75 per ton for 16.23 million tones” (Chukwudum,2004:7). He notes that following upon this, the state instituted Justice M.B Belgore Panel to investigate the alleged irregularities. The probe seriously indicated the Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Defense and he was dismissed along with other officers, but the criminal proceedings were never brought against the dismissed men.

Moreso, certain factors give raise to the creation of the institution (EFCC) in the bide to fight against corruption in Nigeria. The integration of Nigeria is one of the reasons. After a long period of military rule, General Olusegun Obasanjo became President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on May 29th 1999. He handed over to Umaru Musa Yar’Adua on May 29th 2007. Obasanjo is remembered as the man who integrated Nigeria more firmly than any other rule in our post-independence history. It was in the bide to impress his Western Europe and American backers, who equally support every regime in the world even if it is oppressive, so long as it is in its interest, President Obasanjo formed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC to fight Corruption.

The United States is concerned about the stability of Nigeria because of her interest in Nigeria’s crude oil; she gets 10 percent of its crude oil from Nigeria and hopes to get more in the future, partly as an attempt to wean itself off Middle East Supplies. Believing that Obasanjo is central to these US interest, Washington has always supported him, despite his suppose corruption and human right abuses, and the flawed elections he organizes.

Also the Nigerian Government under President Obasanjo’s administration established the Commission due to the severe negative perceptions of the country as a money laundry heaven and other forms of economic and financial crimes.

The preponderance of these criminal activities had discouraged numerous potentials investors to Nigeria, thus diverting much needed FDI for the country’s economic growth. As a direct consequence of the activities of the now very infamous ‘419ners’ who engaged in Advanced Fee Fraud, and an equally endemic corrupt practices of both government and private citizens, Transparency International has consistently rated Nigeria as one of the top three most corrupt countries in the world. The above painted scenario had translated into loss of economic activities, negative national image, and failure of state institutions, brain drain, business failures, unemployment, poor investment climate and poverty.

2.0 ACHIEVEMENT AND FAILURES OF THE ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL CRIME COMMISSION (EFCC) AND INDEPENDENT CORRPUT PRATICES COMMISSION. Eight years into implementation, the project has been able to aid national counterpart institutions in making significant achievements. To date, the EFCC has received more than 5000 petitions and achieved more than 400 convictions. Even more impressively, a 6.5 Billion US $ of criminal proceeds have been recovered. At the political level, Nigeria was removed by the FATF from the list of non cooperating countries and territories. Subsequently formal monitoring of Nigeria’s compliance with the 40+9 FATF recommendations was ended and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit was admitted to join the Egmont Group. As a whole, Nigeria’s standing against several global governance indicators, such as the Global Corruption Barometer and the Corruption Perception Index of Transparency International as well as the World Bank Governance Indicators has consistently improved. Moreover, EFCC enjoys a high level of acceptance among Nigerian citizens with 72% of respondents to a public perception survey conducted by the project in 2009 confirming that “EFCC meets my expectations fully or partially”.

Regarding the justice sector, the assessment conducted in 2007/08 with the assistance of the project confirmed impressive improvements made in the period 2002 - 2007. More specifically, the justice system had become significantly more accessible, with the average time prisoners had to spend in remand reducing from 30 months in 2002 to less than 12 months in 2007. Improved had also the general awareness of prisoners with regard to bail with 68% of the respondents being aware of their right to apply for bail in 2007, as opposed to only 43% in 2002. Prisoners, moreover, had better access to legal assistance, with 56% being represented by a lawyer as opposed to only 38% in 2002. Similar progress could be registered with regard to timeliness and quality of justice delivery.

Moreso, the number of months that it had taken court users on average to resolve their legal matters had reduced from 27 months in 2002 to a little over 12 months in 2007. Improved had also the administrative systems of the courts, with 87% of judicial officers finding the record-keeping efficient or very efficient, as opposed to only 44% sharing this opinion in 2002. As concerns the prevalence of corrupt practices, in 2002, 77% of lawyers and 43% of court users claimed that within the last 12 months prior to the interview they had been approached for the payment of a bribe in the context of a court case. When these stakeholders were asked the same question in 2007, only 16% of the lawyers and only 2% of the court users admitted that they had been approached for the payment of a bribe. With regard to the independence, impartiality and fairness of the courts, 19% of the judges felt that judicial appointments were politically influenced and not based on merit, while 50% of the lawyers claimed to know of judicial decisions that had been inspired by politics. However, in 2007 findings seemed to suggest that judicial independence had been strengthened with 24% of lawyers stating that they were aware of a judicial decision during the last 12 months which in their opinion had been influenced by politics, and 8% of judicial officers claiming to be aware of a judicial appointment having been influenced by political considerations rather than merit.

Collectively all of these improvements have helped to enhance public confidence in the justice system. In 2007 the percentage of court users who stated that they had not used the courts during the last two years despite a need to do so had reduced from 42% in 2002 to 36% in 2007. At the same time, those court users who indicated that they would use the courts again based on their experience increased from 58% in 2002 to 69% in 2007. However, the point has to be made that the anti-graft standards, and a gross disregard for the rule of law. It is difficult to understand why the numerous cases of corruption by public officials, some which are widely reported were discountenanced by the EFCC. The noise and propaganda by the government and administration of Obasanjo, the anti-corruption campaign was only aimed at opponents and critics of his government and himself.

The war on corruption by Obasanjo’s administration with EFCC as a tool was enveloped in dishonesty and deceit and can be reinforced by citing a few cases of corruption which the government either celebrated or pretended not to know about. In 2000, billions of naira was appropriated for the construction and rehabilitation of roads in the country. In spite of this, the conditions of the roads worsened. Rather than holding the man who got the resources to account for them, he was rewarded with a leading position in the ruling party. Moreso, from January 2001 to October 2003, the Board of Nigerian Ports Authority NPA was chaired by one of Obasanjo’s friends and political associates. Following allegations of corruption against the board, The Mustapha Bukar-led special committee on Review and Verification of Contracts Awarded by the NPA from 2001 to 2003 was set up to investigate those allegations. The report of the committee exposed the monumental fraud in contract awards at NPA under the Chairmanship of the President’s friend. Another special committee was set up by the President, and headed by Nuhu Ribadu the former Chairman of Economic and Financial EFCC to conduct another round of probe of the NPA contracts. The report of the committee confirmed the verdict of Bukar-led committee. The review were overwhelming indicted (Odunlami, 2007:61) Rather than recovering the stolen public funds from these people and sending them to jail, the Chairman of the kleptocratic board was positioned as the National Vice-Chairman (South-West) of Obasanjo’s party and later, Director-General, Yar’ Adua/Goodluck Jonathan Campaign Organization!

Mean while in 2003 the audit report of Federal Ministries and Parastatal was published by Vincent Azie, the acting Auditor –General of the Federation. The audit report revealed that more than N23 billion was lost in ten major ministries in just one year. 2001 The amount represented financial fraud ranging from embezzlement payment for jobs not done, over-invoicing, double debiting, inflation of contract figures to release of money without consent of approving authority(Atojoko,2003:21).The miniseries and amount involved are outlined in the table in the previous page. The government and Economic and Financial Crime Commission. EFCC to do the heads of the indicted ministries and parastatals, the funds were not recovered from the persons but rather than decorating the acting auditor –General with Nigeria’s highest honours for doing a good job, the Obasanjo regime rewarded him with retirement. It is no longer news that for more than seven years the ministry of petroleum resource was directly headed by the President himself .Many cases of corruption were reported in that ministry. In fact, as Okey Ndibe (2007:15) has stated, …far from combating corruption, the president had presided over a political culture that thrives in graft.

At the inception of his presidency, he had decided to personally oversee the petroleum sector. Under his watch, the sector was far from a paragon of transparency. Close associates of his were awarded lucrative oil blocks. The illegal lifting of Nigeria’s crude contained, and a ship engaged in this illicit activity disappeared while under arrest. On the whole, his anti corruption pretensions have been rebuked by his disinclination to submit his supervision of the petroleum sector to legislate oversight.

The Economic and Financial Crime Commission EFCC and ICPC were mere tools in the hand of Obasanjo at the end of his tenure they also ended. The bizarre drama which Obasanjo and Atiku acted with regard to the funds of the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) must not be forgotten. The staggering revelations on the kleptocratic and proflicaious corruption actually flourished under the Presidency and the EFCC and ICPC have not being able to investigate.

CONCLUSION
There is no doubt that corruption is a global phenomenon, and as Partick Heinecke(1986:96) has pointed out, it is the forced diversion of material wealth into private hands intended for the effective achievement of socially desirable ends, resulting in deprivation and improvement of the many to the advantage of a few. However the government and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) actually made few attempts at tackling corruption. Some of the cases are recorded as achievement, it include the case of the Tafa Balogun a former inspector –General of Police; Adolphus Wabara, a former senate President; Fabian Osuji, a former Minister of Housing , Alamieyeseigha, a former governor of Bayesla State and the case of Chief Joshua Chibi Dariye the embattled governor of Plateau State. Adesugba (2004) observe, the Government through the EFCC has been actively cooperating with Interpol and the city of London Police in an International crackdown targeting alleged king-pins behind a host of fraudulent e-mails sent en masses to gullible victims across the world. The fraudsters in Nigeria and the seizure of $500 million. With the establishment of the EFCC scammers have become more cautious of carrying out their nefarious activities. From its inception to the early 2004, government has recovered over five billion naira from swindlers. The Commission has arrested over 200 people including and standing society. As part of her achievement EFCC has set up a unit in the Ministry of Finance to help fight corruption. The EFCC is to combat corruption practices associated with swindling and fraud. As it is a pronounced anti-corruption measure against the 419” the commission has dealt with many fraudsters whose activities greatly tarnished the image of the country at home and abroad (Nwachukwu 2005:16)

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