EFCC, NECA vow to fight fraud

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Nigerian Employers’ Consultative Association have agreed to strengthen collaboration in tackling employment fraud, money laundering, and other financial crimes affecting both the public and private sectors.

During a meeting at the EFCC headquarters, the anti-graft agency’s chairman, Ola Olukoyede, revealed that Nigeria lost over N40bn annually to employment fraud.

Olukoyede, in a statement by the commission’s Head of Media and Publicity, Dele Oyewale, noted that both employers and employees engage in fraudulent activities, worsening the country’s financial and economic woes.

“In 2007, before I joined the EFCC, I conducted research on employment fraud, focusing on how employers defraud their staff and how employees also defraud their employers. I discovered that Nigeria was losing over N40bn every year to employment fraud,” Olukoyede was quoted to have said.

He further disclosed that EFCC investigations into the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System exposed widespread payroll fraud, with individuals illegally receiving salaries from government agencies without actually being employed.

“We found that many individuals were receiving salaries without being employed by the government. Our intervention helped save billions of naira. Even now, we are still investigating these fraudulent activities because criminals keep developing new tactics, and we must keep innovating to counter them,” he added.

NECA’s Chief Executive Officer, Adewale Oyerinde, expressed concern over the increasing financial losses suffered by businesses due to fraud, cybercrime, and identity theft.

He called for closer collaboration with the EFCC to combat these issues.

“We are here to seek collaboration with the EFCC in whatever context and partnership possible. We are particularly interested in joint workshops on the role of the private sector in reducing or eradicating money laundering, cybercrime, and identity theft. These have become major concerns not just for the EFCC but for organised businesses as well,” Oyerinde said.

Olukoyede reiterated the EFCC’s commitment to fighting financial crimes, stressing that corruption remains the biggest obstacle to Nigeria’s economic development.

“You don’t need a soothsayer or a prophet to tell anyone in Nigeria that our major problems are financial crimes and corruption. One of the biggest threats to our economic progress is the issue of corruption and financial crimes, and that is exactly our mandate,” he declared.