The Head, Ibadan Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr Kanu Idagu on Friday hinted that the zonal office recovered N250,223,451.15; as well as $215, 142; CD325 (Canadian dollars); €1,990 and £500, 72 vehicles and properties worth billions of naira in locations spread across the zone from July 2019 to June 2020,.
Mr Idagu who dropped this hint in Ibadan while addressing journalists in commemoration of the 2020 Democracy Day said the Zonal Office secured 114 convictions between January till date which represent 70 percent of entire convinctions achieved in the last one year.
The Head EFCC Ibadan zonal office noted that the Covid-19 pandemic is affecting the operations of the anti graft agency.
He pointed out that the commission has been working and pushing hard to ensure that criminals don’t take undue advantage of the CoronaVirus lockdown situation to perpetrate crimes.
“From July 2019 to June 2020, we recovered an aggregate sum of N250,223,451.15 (Two Hundred and Fifty Million, Two Hundred and Twenty-Three Thousand, Four Hundred and Fifty-One Naira, Fifteen Kobo).Others in foreign currencies include $215,142 (Two Hundred and Fifteen Thousand, One Hundred and Forty-Two United States Dollars), CD325 (Three Hundred and Twenty-Five Canadian Dollars), €1,990 (One Thousand, Nine Hundred and Ninety Euros) and £500 (Five Hundred Pounds). Also recovered are 72 vehicles and properties worth Billion of naira in location spread across the zone” he said..
Mr Idagu added, “within the said period, the zone investigated 556 cases. We were able to secure 151 convictions out of the number, while 97 others are still in court”.
Speaking on the effect of the lockdown on the activities of the zonal office, Mr Idagu stressed that the social distancing measures introduced to curb the spread COVID-19 has affected activities of the zonal office in no small measure especially on the commission’s capacity to effect arrest of suspects as well as take them to court, saying, the correctional centres often refused to accept suspects despite the order of court for them to keep them in custody pending the next adjourned date.
He stressed that “notwithstanding the challenges of the lockdown, however, the zone has been working, pushing hard to ensure that criminals don’t take undue advantage of the situation.”, saying, “let me wow you that a reasonable percentage of the feats highlighted above were actually recorded within the Covid-19 crisis period.”
“For instance, N122,917,676.72 (One Hundred and Twenty-Two Million, Nine Hundred and Seventeen Thousand, Six Hundred and Seventy-Six Naira, Seventy-Two kobo) of the N250,223,451.15 mentioned above was recovered between January and June 2020.”
According to the Head , EFCC Ibadan zonal office, ” also under the period, $101,246 (One Hundred and One Thousand, Two Hundred and Forty-Six United States Dollars), CD300 (Three Hundred Canadian Dollars), €1275 (One Thousand, Two Hundred and Seventy-Five Euros) and £500 (Five Hundred Pounds) were recovered, as well as 21 vehicles. The number of convictions from January till date stand at 114.”
