From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has lamented that the level of corruption in the country among Nigerians drastically contravenes their religious lives.
The anti-corruption agency argued that despite the volume of preaching in both churches and mosques, the rate of corruption has continued to escalate.
Secretary of the commission, George Ekpungu, made the assertion at the 4th edition of National Youth and Students Annual Summit on Anti-corruption and Drug Abuse, held in Abuja on Thursday.
Represented by ACP Chris Ogbuka, the EFCC’s chief scribe revealed that the agency will soon launch a religious anti-corruption manual for both Christians and Muslims.
In his goodwill messages, he said: “Simply said, the problem with us is insincerity. Nigerians are very religious but there is a whole lot of difference between being religious and being Godly. We will continue that way until we get it right.”
“EFCC is preparing for something very soon, which is the launch of a religious anti-corruption manual for Christians and Muslims. We have realised that both the Bible and the Koran have anti-corruption messages in them.
“But, why is it that all that have been preached by both religion over the years have not fully impacted on the lives of Nigerians? We are actually deceiving ourselves and until what is preached in the Mosques and churches are reflected in our lives, we are just beating about the bush,” the anti-corruption agency quipped.
Speaking further, the EFCC scribe said: “What is also related to the above is attitudinal change. I remember vividly the way Nigeria invested in NACA. I was among those that scripted the jingles to create awareness about HIV. It helped so much in ensuring that Nigeria did not suffer like some other countries.
“We must have to change our attitudes. We need a rigorous campaign through public enlightenment programmes to interface with the public on our attitudes towards corruption.
“The EFCC has taken up the campaigns through many social media platforms. Until young students refused to be peer-pressured into indulging in committing crimes or certain habits they are not supposed to go into, it may continue.
“As for the agency, I will say that we are not full proof against corruption. I am not going to claim that we don’t have bad eggs. However, one thing I want to assure you is that EFCC has internal mechanism of fighting corruption within itself. We have what we call internal Affairs Department,” he explained.
The National Coordinator of the Annual Summit, Jacob Onu, said he was motivated to organise the fourth edition after the successes recorded in the three previous editions.
“The fight against corruption is not a one off battle, rather a continuous one that requires perseverance and endurance. This is the reason behind this initiative. Just as we are fighting and battling corruption on one hand, we are equally against the use of drug enhancing substance by youth and athletes in our sports. The effects are enormous. We encourage youths and students to shun such vices as they are ungodly, immoral and cheating,” Onu appealed.