The chairman of the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ibrahim Magu, has
accused state governors of covertly promoting
insecurity as justification to inflate their security
vote.


He made the accusation on Tuesday in a paper
titled: “Imperative of Fighting Corruption/Terrorism
Financing in Nigeria” which he presented at the
induction of new and returning governors at the
State House, Abuja.

Magu, who said that he was not going into debate
on the constitutionality of security vote, said that
the governors must be conscious of transparency
in the expenditure of public funds.

He said: “We have also seen evidence of theft of
public resources by some state governors –
cashing on the insecurity in their states. Insecurity
has also offered the required oxygen for corruption
to thrive as evident in the $2.1billion arms
procurement scandal involving top military
commanders both serving and retired.”

He stated that corruption cannot be divorced from
the festering insurgency in the North East zone,
adding that mass poverty in the region due in part
to corruption by the ruling elite, is largely to blame
for the ease with which the terrorists were able to
recruit fighters to sustain their aggression against
the Nigerian state.

The EFCC boss further said that the militancy in the
Niger Delta region and insurgency in the North East
were by-products of corruption.

According to Magu, “as an investigator, I am
shocked by the quantum of resources stolen from
the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC)
by those who run the intervention agency. It is so
bad that even a mere personal assistant to a
former managing director was charged for stealing
over N3 billion.”

He, therefore, tasked in-coming and returning
governors to shun corruption, stressing that
“whether we like it or not, corruption and terrorism
have become the twin evils undermining our
collective efforts to make Nigeria a truly great
country.”

Magu said that Nigeria’s failure to take advantage
of its natural resources could also be attributed to
corruption as public office holders were in the
habit of constantly pillaging public funds.


The anti-corruption czar observed that the country’s
loss to corruption in the last decade runs into
trillions of naira, noting that a review of the
recoveries between 2017 and now, shows that in
2017, the EFCC recovered N473.065billion,
$98million, €7million and £294,000, while
N236.16billion was recovered in 2018, which give
just an insight into what had been stolen so far.
The EFCC boss said that the nexus between
corruption and terrorism is that graft promotes
insecurity.


https://leadership.ng/2019/05/02/govs-promoting-insecurity-to-inflate-security-vote-magu/amp/leadershpnga/