The acting chairman of the Economic
and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, has identified corruption
as the reason behind Nigeria’s recession
.
He said the current economic
situation of the country was why the federal government was paying a lot of
attention to the recovery of stolen funds.
“I maintain that the economic
recession is caused by corruption,” Magu told Arise TV.
“About 90 per cent of the cause of
recession is corruption, because there was fund and people stole the funds and
kept them where they cannot be reached.
“If we can lay hands on this hidden
wealth, we won’t stay for more than three months in this recession. It is
sufficient for us to get out of economic recession”, he added.
Magu advised those still holding
looted money to voluntarily return such.
“I think they should just come out
and approach the government and say, ‘this is what I have.’ Our emphasis now is
on the recovery of the looted fund. People should come out and give us full
disclosure, we would go after it”, he added.
On possible amnesty for looters, he
said, “I’m not sure of that. But we encourage recovery if you can voluntarily
bring out this thing, disclose this thing. It is the government that would
decide. We encourage people to come out and disclose the looted funds.
“They should cooperate with the
government. They should come forward and declare what they have looted and the
government will take its decision.
“Everybody must join in the fight
against corruption. It’s very necessary for the future of this country, for a
better tomorrow.
