The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, has entreated the National Assembly to pass the Unexplained Wealth Bill.
Olukoyede made the plea while speaking at the National Conference on Public Accounts and Fiscal Governance organised by the Public Accounts Committees of the Senate and House of Representatives in Abuja.
He said the victory over corruption that is one of the requirements that would enable the country to turn the corner would remain elusive until there is a legal backing to hold public officers accountable for assets far beyond their legitimate earnings.
“Help me pass the Unexplained Wealth Bill. I’ve been begging for the past year. This same Bill was thrown out by the last Assembly. If we don’t make individuals accountable for what they have, we’ll never get it right.
“Someone has worked in a ministry for 20 years. We calculate their entire salary and allowances. Then we find five properties — two in Maitama, three in Asokoro. Yet, we’re told to go and prove a predicate offence before we can act. That is absurd,” the anti-corruption czar stated.
He equally said of a discovery the anti-graft agency made: “In the last three weeks, we started a commission-wide investigation into the extractive industry, particularly the oil and gas sector. What we have discovered is mind-boggling.
“And we have only just opened the books. So much more corruption is to be unraveled. If this is what we’re seeing at the surface, imagine what lies beneath.”
