The North-West zonal office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has recovered at least N54, 535,651,183.74 and another $622,200.00 (N190.1m) within the last 10 months.
Briefing newsmen in Kano, on Tuesday, the Zonal Head of Operations (North-West Operations), Mr. Nnaghe Itam, revealed that the zone, within the period under review, had 214 cases, while 34 were at the moment undergoing prosecutions.
According to him, the anti-graft agency secured 23 convictions during the period.
The EFCC zone, comprising Kano, Jigawa, Katsina, Kaduna, Zamfara, Sokoto and Kebbi states, according to Itam, also recovered some properties, which included eight houses, nine plots of land, three trucks and a car.
Itam said the development was followed by a directive from the Chairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, who had ordered the zone to look into some complaints over the distribution and diversion of petroleum products during the last fuel crisis in the country.
He said that the zone’s investigation into the complaints yielded a refund of N54,393,106,143.00 to the Federal Government by some marketers.
Itam said, “I will also like to draw your attention to our proactive enlightenment campaigns within the zone in a bid to highlight what we can do to reduce corruption by not joining the corruption chain.
“It is important also to note that government is still the most active driver of the Nigerian economy. Our efforts are largely concentrated in tackling fraud relating to tax revenues within the business community in Kano.
“We have recovered millions of naira for the Federal Inland Revenue Service and are working to ensure that value is derived by government through an appropriate collection of taxes, rates and royalties.’’
Just few days ago, former Governor of Adamawa State, Admiral Murtala Nyako, rtd, and his son, Senator Abdulaziz were on Monday re-arraigned before an Abuja Federal High Court by the EFCC over alleged N40bn fraud.
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