This is one big question that come to my mind when i was trying to figure out why all financial investigation didn't go right.

The legislators has presided over some investigation and by no argument you will agree with me that it got to no where.

I am not saying EFCC and ICPC are competent but at least we can trace their problem to the lack of competent hand decide on where and what to do.

When Nuhu Ribadu was the chairman of EFCC we saw their capabilities and competencies.

Why now we have the legislators at the helm of every financial investigation when we know it will never get to see day light?

We have EFCC to deal with financial misappopriation how come all high profile cases are handle by the Legislators and Police?

That is why i am asking is it legislators job to preside over financial misappopriation?

EFCC was effective in the days of Obasanjo why now they are so limited to run after yahoo boys and little penny fraudsters?

My conclusion

The legislators preside only over cases they have not benefited thereby collect their share of funds through investigative panel.
E.G
Pension Scam Funds
Oil Subsidy Scam
Malabu Oil Deals

etc............................

Anytime the Legislators stray into territory that they have termed "Executive Oversight," it is simply because dollars have been fitted into caps to bury tracks.

The very choice of words in the unfortunate term, "Executive Oversight," shows that they have strayed into executive territory where the separation of powers ensures that they lack jurisdiction. But Nigerians are easily fooled, especially when huge sums are mentioned, so dollar in cap fueled straying has become the norm, rather than legislating.

Nice thread.

Thanks for the insight Beaf

More questions anyway

Do EFCC need order or permission from the above before they could swing into action?

Since they are independent i think they are suppose to get into action on hearing of any financial misappopriation from any angel.

Do they wait to receive petition before anything is done?

Some special detectives are trained to investigate money issue,how come it is our legislators without any iota of secret experience take over investigation with no idea of what to do?

I think such investigation is already failed before it commence.

If this is the case

Why no one has spoken against this things even our so called activists?

OYINBOGOJU: Thanks for the insight Beaf

More questions anyway

Do EFCC need order or permission from the above before they could swing into action?

Since they are independent i think they are suppose to get into action on hearing of any financial misappopriation from any angel.

Do they wait to receive petition before anything is done?

Nigeria's problems are deeply structural and thats why we keep parachuting in bodies like the EFCC to block leakages. But blocking leakages in our national structure is like tying iron rods with string to build the foundation of a skyscrapper. What we really need is to tear up the phucked up document thats our constitution, cos we'll be phucked up as long as our foundation is phucked up.
It is the chaotic structure that our unfortunate constitution forces on us that gives the legislators leeway and fertilizes our corrupt govt tiers and corrupt society.

The EFCC deals with only select cases since they are not a full fledged service like the police or SSS.
To makes things even more constraigned, the EFCC falls on the the Executive (President). In other words, without rigourous self censoring, the EFCC (and similar bodies) can become a tool in the hands of a wayward President to levy tyranny on opponents and the masses. If you recall, both El Rufai and Ribadu fled into exile during Yar Adua's time, I don't think we want such; we need to be careful when calling on such extralegal forces.

What we need instead, is to restructure the police force into a modern instutution and scrap adhoc bodies like the EFCC. Bur that has to come as part of a larger effort to restructure the country.

IMO, if funds are misappropriated and used for the WRONG reasons (opposite for what Congress had approved it for), it's the legislators who investigate (although I won't use that term) these issues. However, if there's a "criminal activity" involved, the federal investigative agency is the agency that deals with the criminal portion of that. YES, the agency will perform civil and criminal investigation, the legislative ONLY perform civil inquiries and if it doesn't suit them, they may or not pass a vote to STOP such misappropriation of funds.

Prime example, there was a burst here that U.S. Dept of Interior was misusing their funds, in fact, there was some sought of closed case fraud. The committee responsible for that department oversight summoned ALL the top leaders in the interior department, performed their inquiries and handed down their findings. Now, it's up to the AG office that were involved + the federal enforcement to make certain ALL criminal activities were treated ASAP.

At the end of the day, it's called separation of powers - Legislative checks the Executive, while the Judiciary checks the Legislative. It's not uncommon for the houses and their various committees to have hearings and expert testimonies on issues concerning executive departments, however, it's not their job to investigate criminal issues. That's the sole responsibility of federal enforcement (FBI, EFCC, or whatever) + the Justice Department(Office of the Attorney General).

manny4life: IMO, if funds are misappropriated and used for the WRONG reasons (opposite for what Congress had approved it for), it's the legislators who investigate (although I won't use that term) these issues. However, if there's a "criminal activity" involved, the federal investigative agency is the agency that deals with the criminal portion of that. YES, the agency will perform civil and criminal investigation, the legislative ONLY perform civil inquiries and if it doesn't suit them, they may or not pass a vote to STOP such misappropriation of funds.

Prime example, there was a burst here that U.S. Dept of Interior was misusing their funds, in fact, there was some sought of closed case fraud. The committee responsible for that department oversight summoned ALL the top leaders in the interior department, performed their inquiries and handed down their findings. Now, it's up to the AG office that were involved + the federal enforcement to make certain ALL criminal activities were treated ASAP.

At the end of the day, it's called separation of powers - Legislative checks the Executive, while the Judiciary checks the Legislative. It's not uncommon for the houses and their various committees to have hearings and expert testimonies on issues concerning executive departments, however, it's not their job to investigate criminal issues. That's the sole responsibility of federal enforcement (FBI, EFCC, or whatever) + the Justice Department(Office of the Attorney General).

This is One point we need to tackle in this government .

Why does House of Rep. or Sen. refuse to hand over their investigation to the efcc?
After summon all the affected head of parastatals for clarification,i am definitely sure they lack the legal backing to sentence or condemn any of them,in the war against corruption i think EFCC was supposed to call in to charge the case to court and get them sentenced accordingly.

i think something is missing in this link.

EFCC and ICPC are called in in some selected cases which makes me conclude that the constitutional right of this financial prosecutors as independent organization needs to be review.

Why has no one speak on those deficiencies on the part of government and why isn't that included in the constitution review?