IN a bid to get Nigerian women key into the ongoing war against corruption, the country’s anti-corruption commission, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in collaboration with the office of the Wife of the President will today, Wednesday, 7 December launch Women Against Corruption (WAC) programme.
Giving the significant role of women in the family and in the society at large, the WAC programme is aimed at engaging Nigerian women in a nationwide sustainable fight against corruption.
The wife of the President, Aisha Muhammadu Buhari, is expected to flag off the programme at the International Conference Centre (ICC) in Abuja.
Today’s launching is coming up 48 hours before the internationally celebrated Anti-Corruption Day, scheduled for Friday, December 9.
According to EFCC’s Head, Media and Publicity, Wilson Uwujaren, WAC was an initiative aimed at getting Nigerian women to buy into the war against corruption as well as raise their consciousness on the consequences of corruption in the minds of their household in particular and also to create awareness of the evil of corruption in the larger society.
Speaking ahead of today’s launch, the anti-graft agency’s Acting Chairman, Ibrahim Magu, stated that engaging women in the fight against corruption would help develop a comprehensive women-based programme of engagement which would enhance the fight.
Magu added that once WAC was launched, women thereafter would not only help to act as watchdogs, foot soldiers and whistle blowers against corruption but also drive the regime of probity and accountability.
The anti-corruption Czar stated that women as home builders were better placed to tame corruption, declaring that woman who has the ability to build a home can as well tame the corruption monster.
Meanwhile, Magu has identified the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) as a veritable ally in the fight against economic and financial crimes and called for collaboration in sensitizing women, whom he described as nation builders, against corruption in Nigeria.
Magu stated this during an advocacy visit to the Customs headquarters in Abuja to mobilise support for WAC ahead of today’s launching.
While emphasising the need for improved inter-agency collaboration among government agencies in the country if corruption had to be kicked out of Nigeria, Magu lauded the existing synergy between EFCC and the Customs.
He appealed to the NCS to avail the countrywide spread of its officers in respect of the Women Against Corruption programme.
Responding, the Comptroller-General of Customs (CGC), Colonel Hameed Ali (retd), while expressing happiness in receiving the EFCC delegates, declared that the Customs was shoulder to shoulder with the anti-corruption commission in the fight against corruption.
According to Ali, “I can assure you we are with you shoulder to shoulder in fighting corruption. Putting heads together to work for this great nation is no longer an option.
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