By Yemi Akinsuyi
In a bid to tackle immigration fraud and its accompanying reputational damage it is causing Nigeria, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC has set up an Immigration Fraud Section in some of its Commands across the country.
Executive Chairman of the Commission, Mr. Ola Olukoyede disclosed this on Tuesday, while receiving a delegation of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), led by its Director General, Superintendent Rabhi Abdallah at the Commission’s corporate headquarters, Abuja.
Olukoyede who further disclosed that the Section was established barely two weeks ago, stated that the Commission was motivated to set it up as a result of the stream of fraud taking place on immigration matters in the country and the need to protect Nigerians from the antics of immigration fraudsters.
“Apart from what we have done in the foreign exchange market, two weeks ago, we set up an Immigration Fraud Section. They are in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Kano and in all our zonal Commands where we have embassies because we have seen quite a lot of fraud in that area. They have scammed people a lot, so we want to devote our attention and resources to that area to ensure that Nigerians and diplomatic missions in Nigerian would not be victims of visa and immigration scam again,” he said.
Abdallah, while explaining the rationale of his visit to the EFCC, stated that the RCMP delegation was in Nigeria to explore ways of collaboration and partnership with the Commission.
He raised hopes of deployment of Canadian law enforcement officers in joint operations and investigations with the EFCC and to further team up with the Commission in other ways that would be beneficial to Nigeria and the West African region.
“The department that I am in charge of in the RCMP is in partnership with government agencies and that partnership comes with some funding and that funding is utilized in the past 30 years to deploy Canadian law enforcement officers to various peace operations around the world, but now in more and more specialized smaller investigations in areas so that we can contribute to stability and make sure that we are providing some levels of support, when and where it is needed”.
“In one end of the spectrum, we are helping support policing and at the other end, we are working hand-in-hand with partners to advance investigations around the world and contribute to stability and global security. So, as part of looking forward and looking for new nations that we can send Canadian law enforcement officers to help contribute to stability and advancing global security, I thought of the experiences that I have working with the EFCC in the past and that I might come and explore opportunities with a partner such as the EFCC.
“I want to pitch the idea and see how we can potentially come to collaborating. Our collaboration has been solid on the operations side and we hope to enhance it by working together in terms of advancing what would be beneficial to Nigeria and the whole region,” he said.
Lending his voice on the choice of the EFCC in the new partnership, Robert Aboumitri, Senior Intelligence Analyst with RCMP, disclosed that the Commission was chosen for its high record of efficiency, professionalism and outcomes.
“Since we established the RCMP in 2021, the most effective partner that we have had is the EFCC. I say this because we have solved a lot of cases and done a lot of investigations together. I want to tell you that the most professional agency that we have found in Nigeria is the EFCC. Not only in terms of results but also in terms of knowledge, training and hunger for even more knowledge.”
In response, Olukoyede expressed gratitude to the delegation for making the EFCC the Nigerian agency of choice and assured them of the Commission’s readiness to work with the RCMP.
“With respect to the proposal you have put on the table, we are looking at it from the perspective of you supporting us and Nigeria being the beneficiary first, then the region. We are ready for it. We will start by having an MoU and identify the various areas of interest, capacity building, support in the area of solution and infrastructure so that we can formalize the relationship.
“We want to really thank you for extending such a gesture to the EFCC and we can assure you that you will also see improvements in our outputs and the services we render,” he said.
The EFCC Chairman noted that the Commission has come a long way, with over two decades of experience, emerging as the foremost anti-corruption agency in Africa in terms of capacity, facility, acumen and professionalism.
He disclosed that the Commission continues to draw strength from synergy and collaboration with other law enforcement agencies across the world.
“We are always open to collaboration; we are open to synergy, working together and having joint operations even with foreign and local law enforcement agencies here in the country, ” he said.
