* Magu & College Commandant, Kadiri
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC Thursday  praised its efforts in the anti-corruption campaign, maintaining that  Nigeria's  Federal Government has been saving N4.5 billion since the implementation of the  Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) for salary payment.

EFCC's Acting  Chairman, Ibrahim Magu, while delivering a lecture at National Defence College, Abuja on “Corruption and Anti-corruption Strategies in Nigeria: Way Forward,”  reiterated that "every paralysis we have suffered in our economy and polity was caused by corruption, the volatilities and vulnerabilties in our security architecture are results of corrupt practices of several decades''

Magu who was the  Guest Speaker at the College's  Course 28 Study Programme on National Defence and Security, themed: “Economic Diversification and National Development,” further added that "the Bank Verification Number (BVN) (recently made compulsory for operation of bank accounts) has been an effective tool in carrying out investigations effectively, as it has curtailed the opening of fake bank accounts by fraudulent individuals."

The Anti-Corruption sheriff further argued that "Since independence in 1960, Nigeria has lost unimaginable number of lives to road accidents, diseases, hunger; communal conflicts, kidnappings, armed robberies, terrorism and a number of other evils that owe direct or indirect percentage to corruption."

The EFCC boss insisted  that the only gateway to development was through fighting corruption. "If Nigeria breaks away from corrupt practices in government businesses and in the private sector, we would transform into a model state overnight," adding that corruption was like rainfall,
“everybody gets affected."

Magu proffers that he seeks  more collaborations among security and law enforcement agencies in the country through the National Anti -Corruption Strategy which partly aims to bring about coherence and synergy in the efforts of law enforcement agencies to rid the country of the scourge of corruption through multi-pronged approaches that strengthen the capacities of “dedicated anti corruption and public accountability institutions, and initiate systems that promote increased and active engagement of citizens in the fight against corruption."

While touching on the successes of the EFCC, he disclosed that the convictions, earned by the Commission over a 10 year period, covering 2009 and 2019 have stacked up to 2165, of which 70% of it, he said was achieved between  2016 to September 2019 under his watch.

The Commandant, National Defence College, Rear Admiral M.M Kadiri in his vote of thanks noted that “what will keep all of us at peace beyond all of these is if we key into the corruption fight."  He observed the need for proper utilisation of funds saying, "we all have a role to play to ensure that monies meant to be used for public good will be applied according to what and how they were meant to be utilized."