The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) charges National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members in the fight against japa syndrome and corruption.
The commission described the EFCC-NYSC Community Development Services (CDS) as an integral social agent in the fight against corruption and internet fraud.
Dele Oyewale, the head of the EFCC’s media and publicity unit, made a statement when CE Wilson Uwujaren, the Director of the Public Affairs Directorate of the Commission, received the NYSC CDS Group at the Commission’s headquarters in Abuja.
Uwujaren told the corps members that they had to uphold the commission’s core values in their CDS group and know what the commission’s job was to do to fight corruption in society. They were told to do things like raise awareness and reorient people as part of their job.
“You are like our mouthpiece out there now. We believe that you are very important to us in this engagement that we are in, especially for us in the Public Affairs arm of the commission. For you to be able to engage adequately, you have to be conversant with what we are doing at the commission. We are going to use this opportunity to encourage all of you,” he said.
Uwujaren further charged the corps members to take responsibility and own the fight against graft, adding that they are the commission’s ambassadors, who must uphold the core values of the commission. “Being a part of the EFCC group also comes with a responsibility on your part.When you talk about core values, we are talking about integrity and transparency, and those attributes must manifest in your personal conduct with your colleagues within the NYSC, and when you go out to engage members of the community, they should be able to see those virtues in you to convince them that you are also part of the work the Commission is doing.
Assuring the corps members of the Commission’s support, the EFCC Director said that, “Whatever resource material we have, when you go out to talk to market women and schoolchildren, we will provide those materials for you. And if you have any special project either at individual levels or collectively that you want to execute, you can come up with your proposal, and we will support whatever it is in a way that we can,” he said.
Speaking on the mandate of the commission, Head, Enlightenment and Reorientation Unit, Aisha Muhammed stated that the EFCC investigates, prosecutes, and sensitises the public on the dangers of corruption and cybercrimes.
“These are the three core mandates of the EFCC, and advocacy is one of them. We go out to inform people and engage in conversations with them. We have the Integrity Clubs in primary and secondary schools; we have the Zero Tolerance Clubs in the universities; and then we have the NYSC CDS Group. We go out to talk to people at market places and motor parks; we collaborate with civil society organisations; we do inter-agency collaboration because the commission cannot do it alone and we can’t be everywhere, so we tend to have everybody on our page, and just like my boss said, you are our foot soldiers, and you are expected to spread this anti-corruption message,” she said.
On the sensitisation works of the corps members, she explained that “what you need is just to tell people to desist from corruption; we all know what corruption does; we can see the effect of corruption in schools and its effects; even this ‘Japa’ syndrome is a result of corruption.Every youth aspires to leave because of corruption.
Earlier in his remark, President of the EFCC-NYSC CDS group, Abidemi Akinwande, said his group was desirous of identifying with the commission and playing its part in the fight against corruption as individuals and groups.
“We want to tell people about what exactly the EFCC is all about; we have individuals that are not learnt, individuals that didn’t go to school, so we have a plan of going to market places, motor parks, and rural areas with flyers preaching against corruption and suggesting to them how we can curb corruption. She said, “We are interested in letting the people know what exactly corruption is all about and how we can grow as a community and as a nation.”
