EFCC to Quiz Civil Servants Living Above Income–Farida

Posted by admin EFCC Politics, Latest Politics Thursday, January 13th, 2011

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), yesterday said it had concluded plans to invoke Section 7(b) of EFCC Establishment Act against serving and retired public servants/office holders who lived above their legitimate income. The section, according to the anti-graft agency, empowered it to conduct investigation on the property of any person whose life style or the extent of the said property were not in conformity with his or her legitimate source of income.

The chairman of the EFCC, Mrs. Farida Waziri, who disclosed this while playing host to the head of the civil service of the federation, Prof. Oladapo Afolabi maintained that the EFCC had gathered sufficient intelligence report on some serving and retired public servants/office-holders, and was still compiling information on others who lived above their legitimate means, with a view to inviting them to account for the means of maintaining such life style.

Mrs Farida, while soliciting the support of the office of the Head of Service for information regarding the stewardship of such persons, said the EFCC had taken steps that would ultimately complement the on-going reforms in the Public Service, as well as helping to rid it of ghost workers/pensioners, owing to the compilation of a full-proof data base of pensioners in the public service which the anti-graft agency was privileged to take part in.

Prof. Afolabi, who came in the company of members of the Inter-Ministerial Task Team on Pensions, in his response, said his office selected the EFCC for the purpose of helping to sanitise public service, to underscore the importance that the present administration had attached to the war against corruption and indiscipline in the society.

Afolabi said that his support for EFCC’s drive, owed to the fact that the previous exercise the anti-graft agency embarked on in collaboration with his office, had drastically reduced the wage bill frm the monthly N2.3 billion to N1.2 billion, and hoped that the next exercise will further reduce it to N600 million monthly. He also disclosed they were about to start the second phase of cleaning the database which he believed the EFCC would be part of to make it a success.

-Leadershipwp_posts