Nigerian Customs commends Crimes Commission’s efforts in preventing economic sabotage

Segun Showunmi in Ibadan

The Nigerian Customs Service (NSC), has commended the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), for its efforts towards preventing economic sabotage in the country.

Penpushing reports that the Customs Service gave the commendation on Tuesday, during a familiarization visit of the new Comptroller of Customs in charge of the Oyo/Osun Command, Helen Ngozi, to the commission’s zonal office in Ibadan.

The custom boss, who was accompanied by senior officers of the Command, noted that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)  possesses a galaxy of highly skilled officers, whose display of professionalism has helped in plugging leakages that could have led to huge loss of resources for the country.

“The EFCC parades high quality staff who are efficient in investigation and prosecution of economic and financial crimes of various forms. It also has sophisticated equipment used for intelligence gathering. The EFCC provides the main backing for economic stability through its control of economic sabotage in and outsides the country.”

“Your agency has a history of playing its statutory role of investigating and preventing economic and financial, and, therefore, helping to combat security challenges,” she said.

Penpushing further reports that, she however called for collaboration with the anti-graft agency, saying that the existing synergy between the two organisations has brought about many successes in the fight against economic and financial crimes.

The Acting Zonal Head of the anti-graft Ibadan office, Bright Igeleke, in his response, recalled that the ties between the two agencies dated back to the early days of the commission when officers of the Nigerian Customs Service(NCS) were seconded to the Commission to help in its effective take-off.

“Our Commission has come a long way in its mandate of combating economic and financial crimes. But the success story cannot be complete without the mention of the input of officers seconded to the commission from the Customs Service as part of its inaugural team,” he said.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC) boss also called for prompt and effective intelligence sharing between the agencies in order to further help each other in their individual mandates.