The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Ola Olukoyede, has urged Nigerians, especially the youths, to collectively fight corruption and all forms of economic and financial crimes for the development of the country.

Olukoyode said the only thing denying Nigerians the enjoyment of its numerous resources is corruption, calling on Nigerians to join hands with the EFCC to fight the menace.

He said this when the students of Economics Department of the University of Abuja visited the Corporate Headquarters of the EFCC in Abuja on a study tour last Thursday.

The EFCC chairman, who spoke through the Acting Director, Public Affairs, Wilson Uwujaren, added that Nigeria as a country is blessed with all the resources needed for its development.

“We are already going through tremendous challenges as a nation; if we look at it basically, what is causing these challenges is corruption.

“So, the onus is on us as citizens to join hands with the EFCC to ensure that we fight this cancer called corruption; fight it to the barest minimum, because however you look at it, unless we defeat corruption, we cannot achieve what we are set to achieve as a nation,” Olukoyede was quoted as saying in a statement issued by the EFCC spokesman, Dele Oyewale, on Monday, October 30.

He further charged the students to collaborate with the EFCC by championing the fight against corruption in order to foster and encourage development of the nation.

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Also speaking, the EFCC spokesperson, Oyewale, called on the students to identify with everything capable of removing leakages in the economy, pointing out that corruption is the worst leakage in any economy.

He enjoined the students to join the fight against corruption, stressing that no society or environment, whether micro or macro, grows when all the basic indices of development are not in place.

In his presentation on ‘Fighting Corruption as a Catalyst for Economic growth’, Oyewale said: “Corruption causes distortion, dislocation and disequilibrium in the economy and  the only way to reverse those negative indicators is to fight it to a standstill.”

On her part, the Head, Enlightenment and Reorientation Unit, Assistant Commander of the EFCC, Aisha Mohammed, called on the youths to be ambassadors of positive change and support the EFCC in its fight to cleanse the country of all forms of economic and financial crimes.

She also called on the youths to be EFCC’s foot soldiers by preaching the ills of corruption to society.

Mohammed said: “Your roles in the anti-corruption fight is paramount. Wherever you are, we need you to join hands to make Nigeria a better place for all of us. Be ready to be change agents and good ambassadors of the EFCC.”

The Star