Musa Na Allah Sokoto
The Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) has sought the partnership of the media in the fight against money laundering and budget tracking and Illicit Transactions.
The EFCC Executive Chairman of the Commission, Mr. Abdulrasheed Bawa made the call at a One-day engagement Workshop on Financial Crime Reporting for journalists organized by the Commission in Sokoto on Thursday.
The EFCC Chairman who was represented by the Sokoto zonal commandant of the EFCC, Mr Aliyu Yunusa, said the task of exposing corrupt public officials is not as demanding as the commission thought.
“What we need is commitment and attention to detail. “One way of doing this is through budget tracking, adding that the yearly budget at all levels of government is always announced but with little or no implementation.
“Institutions have their budgets, as well as elected politicians for their respective Constituencies.
“The media should begin to ask questions on budget performance through monitoring and reporting of its implementation.
“More so, whistle-blowing on project failures, abandonment of contracts, project delay and poor project delivery is minimal at the moment, the media should focus more on these areas,” he added.
He further described the workshop as one of the modest efforts of the commission to build synergy, understanding, and cordial relationship between the commission and media practitioners.
According to him, the program was flagged off in the year 2022 and the scope of its activities was expanded to make journalists benefit.
The EFCC boss however reminded the participants that, the nation owes an obligation to them as media practitioners.
“It’s your obligation to expose every criminal act through your daily reportage of events for the benefit of humanity.
“I urge the media to deploy more time, energy, commitment, and professionalism in exposing fraudulent activities in both public and private sectors,” he said.
Bawa assured participants of the Commission’s commitment to continue to offer more support to the media across the country, especially on the current war against economic and financial crimes in the society.
