Procurement frauds have been linked to the growing poverty in Nigeria, according to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Civil Society Organizations and several other stakeholders.
This was disclosed during a one-day CSOs event themed Strategic Alliance & Think-Tank Against Procurement Corruption held on Thursday in Abuja.
The acting executive chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Abdulkarim Chukkol, who was represented in the event by the Deputy Director, Special Duties, EFCC, Ofe-Imu Atiba Sunday, said the persistent poverty in Nigeria was as a result of both high-profile and widespread corruption within the political and economic systems in the country.
The acting EFCC boss disclosed:
- “We need not begin to re-announce what corruption has done to Nigeria and what it is doing to Nigeria. We have a nation that is so blessed with all forms of resources, both human and material. But, we are languishing in poverty just because of corruption. Procurement corruption or fraud constitutes 70 per cent of corruption cases in Nigeria.
- “All cases of corruption particularly in public sector corruption borders on procurement both high profile procurement to the least of procurement. It is difficult for anybody to go to a public purse or vault and just take money and go. So, the only avenue that has remained a conduit pipe where resources are being carried away is through procurement.”
Mohammed Bougei Attah, the National Coordinator of Procurement Observation Initiative (PRADIN) who attended the joint meeting noted that despite huge investments in human and material resources to fight corruption in Nigeria, the menace seems to persist.
Attah opined that the wrong utilization of certain provisions for prosecutors and the total absence of audits in public procurement were some of the major challenges facing fighting procurement fraud in Nigeria.
Attah proposed that complete advocacy for compliance with the extant laws is one proven way to ensure transparency in public procurement.
