Gov Bello charges EFCC to focus on crime prevention

The Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, on Thursday, urged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to focus more on crime prevention than parading alleged suspects in the media.

Bello, who made the call at the North-Central Zonal Public Hearing on review of the Revenue Allocation Formula (RAF) in Lokoja, asked the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) to work closely with the EFCC in preventing financial mismanagement.

The governor noted that the issue of dwindling allocation to states would be addressed if the huge funds reportedly recovered by the commission are distributed and closely monitored to avoid any form of misappropriation.

He said: “Often, states and local governments can do nothing more than look on, helpless, at the distressing frequency with which our media report the discovery of trillions of naira in distributable revenue.

“These are revenue which the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) or other revenue generators neglected, failed or refused to remit to the federation account as due.

READ ALSO: EFCC withdraws case against Kogi govt seeking forfeiture of N20bn bailout fund

“The RMAFC has a concomitant duty to prevent this from happening. It can easily do so in collaboration with sister federal agencies such as the EFCC.

“I call on the general public to help inform the EFCC that Governor Yahaya Bello advises that preventing such larceny of our communal funds is actually a better use of her valuable resources and time.

“Rather than the recent dealing in innuendos about alleged lost or found funds in alleged secret accounts of the Kogi State Government, which neither I, as Chief Executive, nor my administration know anything about.

“We still challenge them, therefore, to clarify publicly to Nigerians if in all of their current hide-and-seek with one of the banks in this country they have discovered that even one kobo was misapplied or misappropriated.”

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