In the ongoing efforts in tackling internet crimes and other waves of emerging criminal activities that are of mutual interests to Nigeria and the United States, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI have brokered a renewed strategic alliance to fight the menace.
The move came when the FBI’s Director, Christopher Wray led a team of the Bureau’s top officials on a visit to the EFCC’s Chairman, Ola Olukoyede at the Commission’s headquarters on friday.
In his remark, Wray expressed delight at the bond that has existed over the years between the EFCC and FBI and called for its upscaling in the face of common crime threats that confront Nigeria and the US.
Olukoyede expressed appreciation to the FBI for being the EFCC’s personnel and institutional capacity building benefactor and expressed optimism that the collaboration between the two agencies would be taken a notch higher.
While suing for the enhancement of the collaboration and strategic partnership, Olukoyede noted that doing so was in mutual interest of Nigeria and the US, especially as criminality has become borderless.
Olukoyede also used the meeting to spotlight the new direction of the Commission under his leadership. He pointed out that tackling public corruption was at the zenith of the policy directives as seen in some of its engagements with Government agencies and how they carry out their activities particularly in the area of contracts and procurements.
The EFCC Chairman expressed optimism that contracts and procurement fraud would soon be a thing of the past.
Other officials on the FBI’s delegation include, Charles Smith Jnr, Sydney Schaur, Joshua James Moldt, William Michael Miller, Vanessa M. Tibbits, William B. Stevens, Leigha Ramson, Sofie Admire Sosenzweig and Dr. Jim Oscar.
(Editor: Ebuwa Omo-Osagie)
