As Nigeria marks May 29 which commemorates the return to democratic rule, LEADERSHIP Friday takes a look at the performance of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration in the wars against corruption and terrorism in the first two years of its second tenure.
Until 2019, May 29 was celebrated as Democracy Day until President Muhammadu Buhari signed into law the bill to make June 12 Democracy Day.
Anti-corruption war
Findings by AfroSky News on Friday reveal that the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) has recorded 1640 graft convictions in the last two years.
There were 890 convictions in 2019 and 750 in 2020, thereby superseding the convictions recorded in four years – 2015 to 2018 – which was 684 convictions.
Minister of information and culture, Lai Mohammed said “the fight against corruption gained momentum in 2019 with the launch of the financial transparency portal and high-profile convictions by the EFCC.
The minister said most of the convictions for 2019 were between January and October during which the EFCC recovered billions of looted funds, the highest anywhere in the world.
“Recall that in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018, the EFCC was only able to secure 103, 189, 190 and 202 convictions respectively,” the minister stated. “The high rate of convictions in 2019 is in addition to the billions of naira in looted funds that have been recovered by the EFCC.”
The minister added that in an effort to block leakages and promote transparency in the management of resources, the president approved additional cost-saving measures, particularly in the area of official travels.
However, despite the challenge of the global COVID-19 pandemic which virtually incapacitated entire operations, the anti-graft agency said it obtained the forfeiture of illegally acquired property to the federal government.
