The Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ibrahim Magu was on 7th October, 2019, nominated to lead the charge by ECOWAS countries against irregular migration of citizens within the region and corruption on member countries ‘national borders as well as the region’s joint anti-corruption forum.
The nomination came from Dr Tony Luka Elumelu, Head of Division, Border Management and Migration, ECOWAS at the end of a two-day workshop on “Capitalization and Sharing of Good Practices on Promoting Regular Migration and Fighting Border Corruption,” organized by Niger Republic’s High Authority against Corruption and Assimilated Offenses, HALCIA, at the ECOWAS Secretariat, Abuja, which partly focused on mitigating opportunities for corruption in border areas and promoting legal migration, through improved state services and awareness.
Magu while accepting the leadership role, commended the organizers for putting up a successful event of high standard, declaring that the EFCC will live up to the expectation in the responsibility, given to it by the ECOWAS member states. He further stated that the EFCC was well-placed for the role given the Commission’s crime preventive capabilities, as well as in investigation and prosecution, which he said the EFCC will bring to bear in the responsibility to combat irregular migration and border corruption.
Representative of Mali Central Office for the Fight against Illicit Enrichment, OCLEI, Bagayoko Fanta Camara, thanked the EFCC boss for accepting the leadership role which he said was made after careful considerations. Camara extended his gratitude to all the participating institutions, including the Joint Commission for Cooperation between Niger and Nigeria, as well as the ECOWAS Commission and hoped that the implementation of the decisions taken, will kicked off without delay.
Magu alongside heads of anti-corruption agencies of Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, who featured at the event took a strong stand against corruption at national borders of African countries and irregular migration.
In a communiqué, Magu co-signed with Gousmane, President of HALCIA, the heads of anti-corruption agencies in the West African countries identified the need for collaboration and coordination at all levels and recommended the institutionalisation of the forum, which has witnessed its second edition after that of Niamey in November 2018.
The sub-groups of the workshop and drew up with three proposals on areas of collaboration among the law enforcement agencies towards combating of corruption in the West African region and modalities for a regional perspective on the fight against irregular migration as well as mechanisms for international collaboration in combating cross-border crimes.
Other recommendations included the creation of a thematic group on the fight against corruption at the level of the Migration Dialogue in West Africa (MIDWA) and development of a joint action plan between cross-border anti-corruption structures in collaboration with ECOWAS Commission.
The workshop, afforded experience sharing on irregular migration and border corruption, and further provided a platform for the sharing of best practices in the fight against corruption, promotion of legal migration and cross-border cooperation amongst the member states of the ECOWAS.
It was organised with technical and financial support of the African Union Border Programme, (AUBP) and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit, GIZ.
