As the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, completed training of 328 new detectives, President Muhammadu Buhari has charged the antigraft agency to go tougher on corrupt Nigerians.

President Buhari said corruption was the major cause of insurgency, kidnapping, armed banditry and poverty in the country.

Buhari spoke as the Reviewing Officer at the the passing out parade of the EFCC cadets Superintendent Course 8 from the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) in Kaduna state, assuring that, he would not interfere or influence the commission’s work.

The President lamented that corruption has retarded development and also brought a great embarrassment to Nigeria especially before the international community.

He stressed that, his administration has made significant progress in the fight against corruption especially cyber crime and financial crimes and will not relent in ensuring that every corrupt person is brought to justice.

According to him, “As part of efforts to boost the war against corruption in Nigeria, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has trained a total of 328 new investigative officers at the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) in Kaduna state.

“The training is to prepare them adequately ahead of their deployment as anti graft investigators across the country.

“This colourful passing out parade follows their completion of a year long intensive training in the elite training institution.”

Addressing the cadets, the President reminded the cadets that much is expected from them in supporting the ongoing fight against corruption, hence he charged them to live shove board.

He admitted that there are still undeniable and systemic challenges, and the deep-routed nature of the problem obviously os corruption.

The parade marked the end of 13 months of training to avail the officers with the necessary skills of law enforcement.

Buhari congratulated the cadets and urged them to contribute their quota to the fight against corruption in the country.

The President gave assurance that his administration would offer the EFCC all the necessary support to ensure effective discharge of its responsibilities.

He also assured them that the government would improve their working condition to enhance their efficiency.

Buhari stressed that the fight against corruption remains a cardinal objective of his government.

He noted that significant progress has been made in the last four years in fighting corruption and blocking financial leakages especially with the introduction of the Single Treasury Account and Whistleblower policy.

“This progress has facilitated the recovery of looted funds in the country”, Buhari said and commended the EFCC for being part of the success story.

Buhari who spoke through Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, urged them to continue with the good work.

It would be recalled that driven by the need for improved professionalism and dedication to duty, the Acting Chairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Magu in 2016, commenced the training of the commission’s cadets in the NDA which produced EFCC’s “Course 7” officers in 2017, comprising 314 detective superintendents.

The commission is therefore, optimistic that the 328 new officers will further boost the anti-corruption fight of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.

Highlight of the graduation was the presentation of awards presented to cadets that distinguished themselves during the training.

Five of the cadets were given awards for outstanding performance, while the overall best cadet, Nuriddeen Sani, got a presidential award.

Chairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, stressed that all Nigerians have a responsibility of fighting against corruption, so as to have a well-developed nation.

Magu had said the commission would expose and prosecute all those behind a contract whose alleged breach led to the $9.6billion British court judgment against Nigeria.

The court judgment is a fallout of the contract purportedly entered into in July 2010 between the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and the Process and Industrial Developments Ltd (P&ID).

But according to Magu, the company was originally registered as a conduit pipe to siphon public funds.

He said this during an anti-corruption road walk organised by the Kaduna Zonal office of the EFCC

The EFCC boss, however, stated that the commission has gone far in its investigation and will soon expose those behind the contract and the court judgement irrespective of whether they are serving in the present government or had served in the past administrations.

“They have adopted another measure… they want to rob this country. Otherwise, why should someone go from behind and connive with government officials and demand a judgement of $9.6 billion?

“Do you know how much that is? If we want to build a general hospital in every village in Nigeria, that money is enough.

“A very serious investigation is going on and very soon we will expose them all,” he said.

Others who joined the walk include officers of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, Federal Road Safety Corps, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency and National Youth Service Corps, as part of efforts to foster inter-agency collaboration in the anti-corruption fight.