Akwa Ibom State government warns that the EFCC risks scaring investors away from Nigeria

AKWA Ibom State government has expressed concerns about the activities of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arguing that the over-zealous way in which is it carrying out its activities is scaring investors away from Nigeria.

Originally set up by the Obasanjo administration at the insistence of foreign investors and developmental partners, the EFCC was charged with eliminating corruption in Nigerian public life. Of late, however, successive governments have used the agency as a political tool to clamp down on political opponents, while it has turned a blind eye to the activities of those in the government's good books.

Speaking in Uyo yesterday, Charles Udoh, the Akwa Ibom State commissioner for information and strategy, said that if not checked, the EFCC would scare away foreign investors from Nigeria. He added that the anti-graft agency was continually used by the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led federal government as an attack tool against political opponents, which would lead to investors abandoning Nigeria due to a feeling of insecurity.

Mr Udoh added: “If the EFCC witch-hunt is allowed to continue, it would work against the growth of the nation. It is the height of impunity and insensitivity for an agency of the federal government to have frozen the account of a state government without any prior notice or communication.

“Such would never have occurred if the federal government had any iota of concern about the people of Akwa Ibom State, especially the public servants whose means of livelihood they shut."

Recently, the EFCC froze the bank accounts of the Akwa Ibom State government. Reacting to claims by the agency that N1.4bn was traced to 11 accounts belonging to the Akwa Ibom State government, Mr Udoh declared that the rumour was false.