Nasir Ahmed El-Rufai, governor of Kaduna State on Thursday, commissioned the new office of the Economic and financial crimes commission, EFCC in the state. The property was commissioned on behalf of President Muhammadu Buhari who is away on medical leave in London at the moment.
Below is a transcript of Elrufai’s speech at the event; “It is with delight that I welcome the opening of an EFCC office in Kaduna. The Kaduna State Government has been supportive of the EFCC, in the firm belief that our efforts to remake Kaduna State would require the presence and cooperation of public integrity agencies. The task of improving accountability and transparency in public life remains as urgent as it was as the EFCC’s founding. Therefore, the Kaduna State government offered the EFCC office premises in our state capital to demonstrate that we have zero-tolerance for bad behaviour by public office holders, contractors, businesses and citizens. We applaud the leadership of the EFCC for taking the significant step to establish a presence in Kaduna. I assure you that you can continue to count on the support of the state government.Kaduna State aligns with the effort of the Federal Government to fight corruption. We are passing a state anti-corruption law, in addition to the panoply of laws and policy actions we have taken to strengthen public finance management, streamline public procurement and make budgeting more transparent. Our resolve to ensure prudent use of state funds for the public good is the reason we adopted an open budgeting system that allows citizens participation.
We have consistently published the audited annual accounts of the state.”In 2015, we took a major step against wastage of public funds by adopting the Treasury Single Account. Within six weeks, we were able to close 470 state government accounts in commercial banks, and transfer their balances to a single account at the Central Bank. That yielded N25bn. We reinforced this by plugging the revenue leakages that occur through cash collection. No public agency of public servant is permitted to collect revenues in cash. We further appointed, through legislation, the Kaduna Internal Revenue Service as the sole collector of all public revenue. In this quest, we have enjoyed the partnership of the Kaduna State House of Assembly. Distinguished guest, ladies, and gentlemen, I believe that by opening a state office in Kaduna today, in addition to having the North-West Zonal Office, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) will be able to act speedily on all cases of financial crimes in the state and across our local government councils. It is my pleasure, therefore, to declare the EFCC office in Kaduna open for operations. May the work that goes on here help to make our country better.Thank you.
Photo Credit: Getty
