The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) are poised to deploy technology to fight economic and financial crimes and other acts of corruption.

EFCC Chairman, Olanipekun Olukoyede, said this at the inauguration of an electronic learning management studio at the EFCC Academy in Abuja.

Also, ICPC, on the sidelines of the 6th General Assembly of Network of National Anti-corruption Institutions in West Africa (NACIWA), in Abuja, warned against undermining the Supreme Court judgment on local council autonomy.

Olukoyede said the studio would help to boost the intellectual strength of the commission’s workforce and promote distance learning.

While stressing the importance of technology in the fight against corruption, Olukoyede pointed out that the studio would add value to the productivity of staff and help develop capacity.

“Today, at the press of a button, you move money across the world. So, if they (criminals) have advanced in the way they move money, we are also advancing in the way we checkmate them, and that is the essence of this project,” he said.

The Commandant, EFCC Academy, Mrs Chinwe Ndubeze, explained the concept of the e-learning studio, adding that it had statutory capacity-building mandate for the EFCC workforce and staff of other law enforcement agencies .

According to her, it is also the designated training Academy for NACIWA.

ON the issue of local council autonomy, ICPC Chairman, Dr Musa Aliyu, said: “The Supreme Court has already spoken that local councils must be democratically governed. For any person at the state level to breach that decision is gross misconduct, which is an abuse of office.

“We, at ICPC, are going after anybody that goes against the decision of the Supreme Court on issue of local council autonomy.”

NAN reports that Aliyu had, earlier at the event, identified corruption as a borderless crime that required concerted efforts of nations.

He maintained that the objectives and guiding principles of NACIWA gave hope and confidence and an indication of readiness to tackle corruption by member nations.

“I would like to state here that there are little or no new laws in the fight against corruption; it is just a matter of implementation. I, therefore, use this medium to emphasise the need to step up the fight against corruption via the instrumentality of digitalisation.

“Effective use of technology and digital tools will assist anti-corruption operatives in the onerous task of taming this monster and dismantling the corruption networks,” he said.