Japanese Agency Backs EFCC’s Chair, Ola Olukoyede, On Fight Against Economic And Financial Crimes

<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h4>Japanese Agency<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that the Japan International Cooperation Agency &comma;JICA&comma; has thrown its weight behind the Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission&comma; EFCC&comma; Mr&period; Ola Olukoyede in his determined bid to use the fight against economic and financial crimes as a potent weapon of achieving sustainable economic development and good governance in Nigeria&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This gesture&comma; according to a statement signed by Dele Oyewale Head&comma; Media &amp&semi; Publicity and made available to OpenLife&comma; was made in Abuja on Thursday&comma; May 2&comma; 2024 by the Chief Representative of JICA &comma;Yuzurio Suzumu while on a courtesy visit to the the corporate headquarters of the EFCC&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to the statement&comma; Suzumu said&comma; &&num;8220&semi;EFCC is a very important partner for collaboration&comma; and our aim is to contribute to the sustainable development of Nigeria&period; We have identified sustainable economic development&comma; social development&comma; good governance and peace building as key pillars of our collaboration&comma; he said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Suzumu emphasized that financial crimes are a cross-sector issue affecting the development of the economy&comma; society&comma; governance&comma; and peace&period; He expressed appreciation to the EFCC for its strong commitment and effort towards combating economic and financial crimes and other acts of corruption&comma; as well as making proposals for broad-based capacity-building programs for staff of the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;vanguardngr&period;com&sol;">EFCC<&sol;a> and other Ministries&comma; Departments and Agencies&comma; MDAs in the area of fighting corruption&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In his response&comma; Olukoyede pointed out that JICA had shared values and objectives with the EFCC&period; &&num;8220&semi;We also stand for sustaining economic development and good governance&period; In fact&comma; upon my assumption of office&comma; one of my policy objectives was to use the anti-corruption instrumentality to stimulate the economy&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He also restated the EFCC&&num;8217&semi;s efforts aimed at stabilizing the foreign exchange market&comma; stressing that the Commission would not relent in monitoring developments in the sector and prosecute illegal foreign exchange traders causing disruption in the forex market&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We are trying to stabilize the foreign exchange market and stimulate growth in the economy&period; To this effect&comma; companies and entities operating to destroy the economy won’t be allowed to have their ways”&comma; he said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He also emphasized the importance of preventive frameworks against corruption&comma; maintaining that&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We are not going to wait for the money to be stolen before taking actions”&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Chairman also pledged to collaborate with JICA&comma; particularly in the areas of manpower training and development to achieve shared objectives&period; He called for more support for President Bola Tinubu in his quest to reflate and rebuild the commanding heights of the economy&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We need to support President Bola Tinubu’s relentless efforts to revive and grow the economy”&comma; he said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;