AGF’s arrest by EFCC

IN yet another incident that illustrates the persistent and vexatious nature of the question of corruption in the country’s civil/public service, operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arrested the Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), Ahmed Idris, over an alleged N80 billion fraud last week. Spokesman of the commission, Wilson Uwujaren, said that Idris was arrested after failing to honour the commission’s invitations to respond to issues connected to the allegations. According to him, “the commission’s verified intelligence showed that the AGF raked off the funds through bogus consultancies and other illegal activities using proxies, family members and close associates.” The funds, Uwajuren added, were laundered via real estate investments in Kano and Abuja. Idris has since been suspended from office by the Minister of Finance, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, and a replacement, Mr. Anamekwe Nwabuoku, has been appointed in the interim.

To be sure,  every accused is presumed innocent until pronounced guilty by the court of law. That is an established principle and it holds true in this case regardless of the averments by the anti-graft agency. However, if only because of the sensitive position that AGF Idris occupies, it is a tragedy that he could be accused of involvement in fraudulent activities at all. And, what is more, there is a real possibility that he could be guilty as charged. How did he come by the humongous properties linked to him? This is, to say the least, a national embarrassment. Just how could the nation’s chief accountant have been allegedly involved in the activities itemised by the EFCC? Idris was appointed Accountant General on June 25, 2015. He succeeded Jonah Otunla, who was retired by President Muhammadu Buhari and accused of allegedly misappropriating N2.5bn belonging to security agencies!

Beyond the question of the guilt or innocence of the AGF in the current case, there is a need to ask why is it so easy to circumvent the rules in the country’s civil/public service. Time and again, civil/public servants have been credibly accused of monumental acts of fraud and stealing. More often that not, the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the Federal Government have served as conduits for siphoning public funds. For instance, in February last year,  we deplored the fact that the office of the Auditor-General of the Federation (AuGF) had frequently had to query the MDAs over malfeasance, pointing out that such queries had become routine in the last few years when the MDAs basked in mind-boggling corruption while the Buhari administration talked tough about cleaning up the system but did nothing concrete to address the burgeoning rot. For instance, in a report considered by the Senate Committee on Public Accounts, the Auditor-General queried the Ministry of Petroleum Resources for printing awareness leaflets on the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) for the sum of N98.4 million without due process. The committee also discovered that N39 million was paid into the accounts of two members of staff in the ministry for “project monitoring” within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.

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In December last year,  we addressed yet another AuGF report which unmasked monumental corruption in the MDAs. It was the same old story all over again: unretired advances, irregular award of contracts, dubious spending, unapproved allowances, payment for services not executed and payment without voucher. According to the AuGF, 27 MDAs failed to account for N323.5 billion in 2019, violating rules on payments, remittances and tax, and dispensing with the government’s financial regulations requiring all officers responsible for expenditure to exercise due economy and not spend merely because it was voted. In that period, internally-generated revenues and other funds not remitted to the government by 15 MDAs amounted to N127.1 billion. Yet federal agencies fully funded from the treasury are mandated by law to remit all of their internally generated revenue to the government’s central account. AGF Idris’ present corruption story only serves to reinforce the fact that the country’s public/civil service is still a cesspool of corruption.

Are there no institutional safeguards? Or could it be that corruption has completely emasculated the institutional checks and balances built into the system? With respect to the office of the Accountant-General, the point cannot be stressed enough that whoever occupies such a position ought to be a person of integrity. It is a position of trust and once trust has been betrayed, incalculable damage has been done. If AGF Idris actually acquired all the properties linked to him, then it is evident that he has been involved in mind-boggling corruption and must be made to pay for his crimes. There should be proper investigation because the AGF, if he is guilty as charged, could not have done all the things attributed to him  alone. Sadly, the impression is being given that contrary to  public opinion, the country is actually rich. At any rate, there is a lot to steal. That is a tragedy. Nigeria is the global capital of poverty and if corruption is not addressed decisively, then the situation will get worse for Nigerians. In that connection, it is sad to note that highly placed public officials such as a former Speaker of the House of Representatives and an ex-Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission were also arrested for fraud last week.

We urge the EFCC to prosecute the case diligently in court and ensure that justice is done. Corruption would not thrive if there were consequences for perpetrators.