Delia Ferreira Rubio, Chair of Transparency
International, TI, has said that the anti-corruption body will stand by
Nigeria to get rid of the menace called corruption in order to improve
the lives of people.
Rubio made the assertion during a courtesy
visit to the EFCC Headquarters, Abuja on May 23, 2018. The visit comes a
few days after Ibrahim Magu, the acting EFCC Chairman emerged as the
new Chair of the Heads of Anti-Corruption Agencies in Commonwealth
Africa.
"We are here to stand by the anti-corruption fighters and also learn from the work the EFCC is doing," Rubio said.
While
offering her support to the EFCC, Rubio, who is visiting Africa for the
first time, noted that her choice of Nigeria as first stop was
recognition of the country's efforts in fighting corruption.
"I
am familiar with the problem and I am familiar with EFCC's fight against
corruption in Nigeria as you are working in a difficult context," Rubio
added.
On his part, Auwal Rafsanjani, Head, Transparency
International Nigeria/Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, CISLAC,
offered the support of TI to help Nigeria in curbing corruption and
commended the EFCC exploits in the area of assets recovery.
"Transparency
International recognises the efforts of the government under the
leadership of the present acting Chairman to address the lapses in our
policy, party and legislation that make corruption thrive and is
interested in addressing the menace called corruption," he said.
Magu
appreciated Transparency International for the visit and its support
and promised to continue to put in place measures that will ensure that
Nigeria received better ranking in TI's future ratings.
"We are
not disappointed by the Transparency International ranking, we have seen
the ranking and Nigeria has moved five points ahead of the previous
ranking and we as an institution are doing well and hope to improve," he
said.
He urged the Transparency International to work together
with Nigeria to understand how the ratings work in order to change the
perception of Nigeria as being "fantastically corrupt".
"As an
institution, one of our strategies is to improve the country's image, to
encourage investors to come and invest in a very favourable environment
and that is why EFCC has not left any stone unturned in dealing with
Advance Fee Fraud (419)," he added.
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