The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has urged the members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) across the country to brace up for hard tackles against the scourge of economic and financial crimes to accelerate the economic development of Nigeria.

The Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, gave the charge while addressing corps members of Batch A, Stream 1, at the NYSC Orientation Camp, Kusallah Dam in Karaye Local Government of Kano State on Thursday, February 29, 2024.

The EFCC chairman enjoined the NYSC members to be more resourceful, innovative, and enterprising to defeat corruption and thereby raise the bar of growth in the economy.

“The message of the EFCC to you is that, begin to look inward and challenge your creative abilities to bring up ideas, perspectives, and drives that can grow the economy,” he said.

The EFCC boss, who spoke through the Head, Public Affairs Department, Kano Zonal Command, Idris Isiyaku, noted that corruption was the root cause of all the challenges facing Nigeria which include, unemployment, insecurity, poverty, diseases, low life expectancy, hunger, robbery, kidnapping, among others.

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Olukoyede added: “Every challenge around us today can be traced to the consequences of corruption. The rising troubles of unemployment, insecurity, poverty, diseases, low life expectancy, hunger, robbery, kidnapping, and others are the results of mismanagement, misapplication, and misplacement of our resources by those entrusted with them.

“We have come to a situation of dire straits in our individual and national lives, all because of the menace of corruption.”

He stressed that economic and financial crimes directly put the fortunes of the economy and polity of the nation in jeopardy, saying: “Criminality of such dimension puts foreign direct investment in uncertainty, slows down genuine efforts to build formidable structures in industries and greatly throws open the nation to avoidable complications.”

The EFCC chairman, therefore, enjoined the NYSC members and other Nigerians to have a development-focused perspective and “see corruption as an enemy to be destroyed”.

“We are calling on you to embrace hard work and shun crime. Yahoo-yahoo is not a sustainable way of life,” he added.

Olukoyede, through representatives, also spoke at the NYSC Orientation Camps in Iseyin, Oyo State; Yikpata,  Edun Local Government Area of Kwara State; Awgu in Awgu Local Government Area of Enugu State; Iyana Ipaja in Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos State; and other locations across the country.

The Star