By Nkechi Eze
In a bid to enhance maritime security, with the aim of combatting transactional crimes, particularly in the maritime domain, the International Criminal Police Organization, INTERPOL, through its Maritime Security Unit has sought collaboration with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
This call was made on Friday, January 17, 2025, when a delegation led by Mr. Ademola Olude, a Criminal Intelligence Officer from INTERPOL’s Maritime Security Unit, paid a courtesy visit to the Lagos Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The delegation included four members from Ghana who met with Assistant Commander of the EFCC, ACE1 Michael Wetkas, who is the acting Zonal Director.
Olude, commended the EFCC for its vigorous corruption-fighting efforts, and stressed that the visit was to seek areas of collaboration to combat transnational crimes that are perpetrated across borders.
“The Maritime Security Unit of the INTERPOL is tasked with implementing a project called Agwe, a codename for the project aimed at providing capacity-building among West African member countries, particularly in the areas of investigations and exchange of information in the maritime domain,” he said.
He noted that the project is running in Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Cameroon, Liberia, Côte d’Ivoire, Cape Verde, Togo, The Gambia, and Benin Republic.
“We have partnership with 10 different countries in Africa, including Nigeria, and our aim is to reinforce collaboration to ensure maritime security, and we are willing to assist the EFCC in matters relating to border crimes,” he said.
In his response, Wetkas appreciated the delegation for the visit and stressed that the EFCC remained resolute in its fight against all forms of economic and financial crimes, and placed premium value on collaboration with fellow law enforcement agencies.
“We are not relenting in our efforts to rid the country of corruption, particularly cybercrime, which has resulted in many internet fraudsters fleeing to neighbouring countries, and so this makes the need to strengthen collaboration across borders more imperative,” he said.
He further reinforced the Commission’s willingness to partner with the INTERPOL to take the fight against corruption across the West African region.
This visit marks another effort in fostering collaboration between international law enforcement agencies, following previous partnerships, such as INTERPOL’s request for EFCC’s collaboration in tackling organized crime groups in West Africa.
