…seeks enhanced partnership to combat economic crimes
Candace Spradley, the US Director of Narcotics and Law Enforcement at the Nigerian Embassy, has praised the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for its impressive efforts in combating economic and financial crimes, as well as corruption.
Spradley expressed her delight during a courtesy visit to the EFCC headquarters in Abuja, where she met with the Executive Chairman, Mr. Ola Olukoyede.
She commended the EFCC’s achievements, noting that they have made a significant impact and earned recognition for the Nigerian government in Washington. Spradley also emphasized the importance of collaboration between the US and Nigeria in areas such as cybercrime, asset forfeiture, and anti-corruption efforts.
“I am so pleased to be with you here, today. We’ve come just to greet you. I’m quite new on my assignment. I’ve been in the country for about five months now. However, earlier on in my career with the Department of State, I learned about the EFCC and all of the very impressive work that you all have been doing to advance anti-corruption and financial crime efforts. So, I’ve known for a very long time about the work of your organization and it was part of the reason that I chose to come here because of the very strong and impressive cooperation from EFCC and similar government bodies in the U.S.
Further more Spradley stated that, “I should just start by saying congratulations to you for the impressive work that the organization has done under your tenure and certainly the name that it has made for the government of Nigeria in Washington.
It is an outstanding and impressive work that has a very far reach”,
She also sought stronger collaboration “on issues of cybercrime, asset forfeiture and recovery, and certainly on issues of anti-corruption and transparency which are top in mind for the US Embassy and a priority for our Ambassador here”.
The Executive Chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Ola Olukoyede, in his remarks, expressed gratitude on behalf of the staff and management of the EFCC and noted that the Commission’s goals align with those of the INL. He emphasized the importance of collaboration between the two organizations to achieve their shared objectives, calling for a stronger partnership to combat economic and financial crimes.
“The mandates that are set before you and ours are quite similar. There is a relationship between dealing in narcotics and money laundering. One of our key mandates is to fight money laundering and money laundering has presumably become one of the biggest financial crimes with global dimension. That is why it has become very imperative for the international community to come together and form synergy to fight these crimes. So it is important for us to work together”.
Additionally, the EFCC’s boss stated that the Commission had robust synergy with the American Embassy and FBI.
“We have a very strong partnership and we plan to build on that in the area of capacity building. The relationship has been of mutual benefits and we will continue to build on that,” he said. Olukoyede also drew the attention of the delegation to the growing involvement of expatriates in internet fraud in Nigeria. He lamented the trend and vowed that the country would be made inhospitable for such anti-social expatriates.
“You are aware of the recent international crime that was busted in Nigeria that involved close to 200 foreigners. You now know who has been perpetrating cybercrime in our system using the identity of Nigerians. That goes to show you that these crimes we are fighting have international dimensions to them.
Investigations have revealed that some of these guys were dislodged from some parts of South Asia and they are now looking for a safe haven within the African Continent from where they would be attacking targets across the world.
Nigeria is not going to create that environment for them to survive. We will deploy intelligence-driven operations to get them out of our system”, he said.
