Naija Gossips

Chairman of Senate Committee on Drugs, Narcotics and Financial Crimes Senator, Victor Rampyal Lar who represents Plateau South at the Nigerian Senate has called on the authorities to reduce the high number of policemen seconded to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

He said out of about 1250 people staffers at the EFCC, 700 of them are policemen and are presently drawing salaries from both organizations against the law.

“What that also means is that as it is now, the Policemen take their pay from the Police Force and also take allowances from the EFCC”, he said.

In an interview with journalist
, he said that these policemen have blocked or stagnated graduates that were trained and employed as cadets for the commission because right now all the heads of departments at EFCC are policemen, adding that this has affected the promotions and opportunities the cadets were to have gotten.

The senator, who is also the Vice Chairman of Special duties Committee, as well as a member of the Senate Committee on Power, lamented that “This state of affair has dampened even the enthusiasm of the international donor agencies because it is like funding another Nigerian Police Force.”

He argued strongly that the EFCC detectives can perform much of the works which the policemen were saddled with at the commission.

“There is no law that says it must be the Police. Section 4 of the Police Act says that they are empowered to arrest, investigate and prosecute. You can have a few of them for the purposes of arrest, but to have 700 of them is definitely unacceptable.

On the ongoing anti-graft war in the country, the chairman, Senate Committee on Drugs, Narcotics and Financial Crimes said he was not in any way satisfied.

“I am not satisfied with the anti-corruption war in Nigeria; both institutionally and operationally.  We had the noble desire to exit Nigeria out of the target group of Financial Action Task Force, having been placed on observation and target for the previous two years.”

“I have tried to fast-track the process the anti- money laundering law which has been amended and has given us a pass mark; then the terrorism Bill and the terrorism financing Bill which has also been amended. However, the tall one of having an independent and autonomous financial intelligence Unit is what we are working on.”