How Jonathan Can Fight Corruption, By Rights Watch

This Day

26 August 2011

How Jonathan Can Fight Corruption, By Rights Watch

United States-based international watchdog, Human Rights Watch (HRW), has charged President Goodluck Jonathan to examine the current leadership of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) led by Mrs. Farida Waziri if he wants to make any appreciable progress in the war against corruption. But the commission's spokesman, Mr. Femi Babafemi, told THISDAY last night that the report did not amount to an indictment against the commission's leadership.

He said: "If Waziri has not brought the type of leadership needed to fight graft, the report itself would not have said that the EFCC under her has made more achievements than it recorded in its first five years of existence. Where there are allegations made against the leadership, they were often made by those being investigated by the commission."

Speaking at a press briefing in Lagos yesterday, HRW's researcher on Nigeria, Mr. Eric Guttschuss, said on page 57 of his report that it was necessary for the president to examine the record of performance of the commission to determine whether Waziri had brought the calibre of leadership the agency needed to function effectively.