The newly built EFCC headquarters located along Airport Road, Jabi, in the Federal Capital Territory, was commissioned today by President Buhari.
President Buhari while commissioning the 10-storey building said that his main objective his fighting corruption and also to protect the public trust of Nigerians.
The construction of the 10-storey building was approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC), during the administration of former president, Goodluck Jonathan, on November 24, 2010. The the building’s foundation was first laid on February 2, 2011. Even though it was billed to cost N18 billion, the building was completed for N24 billion due to fluctuating foreign exchange.
With growing criticism over the cost of the building, acting EFCC chairman, Ibrahim Magu, said the project is worth it to make the war against corruption more efficient.
While speaking on Channels Television on Tuesday, he said,
“It’s not for me to defend. It’s for the professional to come and see it to assess whether it is worth whatever it is. It’s worth it.
We need to move to a better place because we’re occupying rented quarters. As it is now, we have our men and facilities and sessions, investigations and prosecutions scattered in rented quarters so this does not give a secure confidentiality of documents and so, if you put everyione in one house, I think you get a better coordination.”
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is a Nigerian law enforcement agency. It investigates financial crime. It was created in 2003. Since its inception, the commission has brought to court a lot of important high-ranking officials. Their cases were related to corruption. Among these people that were detained, were government officials as well as bank executives. On September 14, 2010, the head of the judicial department of the EFCC, Abdullahi Muazu was killed in Kaduna. Before that, he took an active part in legal proceedings.
The EFCC agency answers to the president of Nigeria. He appoints the chairman himself. The commission has the support of the legislative body and also key security agencies.
