THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission recently gave an account of money stolen by Nigerian leaders who had access to the nation’s money between 1960 and 2005, with everything totaling to about $20 trillion.
The commission further said that as at year 2000, the record showed that $100 billion had been stolen with an external debt of $33 billion suggesting that paying off the nation’s external debt would have required only a fraction of the money stolen by the country’s leadership.
While quoting an earlier presentation by the Chief of Staff to the Executive Chairman of the commission, the Director, Internal Affairs EFCC Mr. Wakili Mohammed who represented the Executive Chairman of the commission, Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde added that as the country would elect new leaders in the 2015 elections, women should be vigilant and disallow people with shady backgrounds from getting into public office.
The anti-corruption agency said this yesterday in Ibadan at a one day sensitization workshop for Women Civil Society Groups.
The commission organised the programme in collaboration with the African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL).
The workshop was hinged on “How women’s organisations can aid the fight against corruption,economic and financial crimes”.
Wakili noted that power to liberate our nation from deep-rooted corruption lies in the hands of women knowing fully well that corruption remains the bane of the nation’s development which results in lower levels of spending on education,healthcare and other social services that affect women and children.