The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC said it receives more than 20,000 petitions concerningEFCC receives over 20,000 petitions on corruption yearly alleged public corruption every year.
The Chairman of the EFCC, Ola Olukoyede raised concerns over the alleged continuous diversion of public funds by some government officials.
He made the remarks on Thursday in Abuja during an event organized to celebrate the 80th birthday of Kanu Agabi, a former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice.
The EFCC chairman said the commission receives more than 20,000 petitions concerning alleged public corruption every year, describing the volume and nature of the cases as disturbing, saying some public officials allegedly divert government resources while holding office, with some cases involving large amounts of money and properties.
Olukoyede said investigations by the EFCC had uncovered cases where individuals entered public service with relatively small amounts in their bank accounts but were later linked to millions of dollars and naira after spending only a few years in office.
He said: “I receive over 20,000 petitions in a year in respect to public corruption, all terrible. What is going on? Like every minute, public officers take money, and if you go through some of our case files you will weep.
“The way people take national resources, as Nigerians we’re victims of these fraudulent activities. And we must come together for once in our lifetime and say no to the activities of some of our leaders.
“Somebody will spend three to four years as a public servant, but before he got to office he had less than N100 thousand in his account. By the time he’s leaving, we were able to trace several millions of dollars and naira to him.
“Some build 50 something houses, sometimes 200 houses. There’s no way a nation will develop with those kind of people in power, no way.
“The major challenge of corruption in this country is that we tolerate the culture of corruption, that is why it is thriving. Secondly, we have systemic errors, our systems are weak.
“We need to tell them that we want them to imbibe the culture of integrity.”
