Mr Okoi Obono-Obla, Chairman, Special Presidential Investigation Panel on the Recovery of Public Property, says synergy among all anti-graft agencies will help in stemming corruption in the country.
He told News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Wednesday that collaboration among the agencies would engender formidable and effective war against corruption.
Obono-Obla explained that the partnership among the agencies, which included Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), Police, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) would promote accountability and transparency in the public sector.
“We are working together so that we share information, experiences and intelligence.
“We must collaborate for more effectiveness in delivering on President Muhammadu Buhari’s avowed war on corruption,’’ he said.
He said that the panel was collaborating with CCB in the investigation of some serving lawmakers in relation to cases of corruption.
“The CCB has custody of all the assets declaration forms of all public officers.
“Our panel investigates assets and sometimes we compare information with the bureau to verify ownership of assets by those we are investigating.
“We are working on the case files of those lawmakers and we will soon transfer such files to CCB.
“This is because we think that it is more expeditious for CCB to handle some of these matters and go into the conventional courts,” he said.
Obono-Obla who declined to mention names of the lawmakers whose cases were before the panel said “we are in court against them.
“Investigations are ongoing; some of the lawmakers are very uncooperative, some have gone to court to stop us, but we will not be deterred from doing what we were appointed to do,” he said.
He, however, debunked the notion that the agency was a duplication of the duties of other anti-graft agencies.
“Our work is different, but sometimes our functions overlap.
“When our functions overlap, we send to the relevant agencies.
“We have a way of sorting that out issues but our work is very clear.”
Obono-Obla said that there was “no cause for alarm’’ having so many agencies fighting corruption as they were all working in accordance with the instruments that set them up.
“In countries that have problems of corruption, the United Nations Convention against Corruption advises that such countries can have multiplicity of agencies,” he said. (NAN)
