EFCC seeks media partnership in fight against money laundering

EFCC has called for close partnership with the media in efforts being made to check corruption, especially money laundering.

In a statement issued in Abuja on Sunday, its spokesman, Mr Wilson Uwujaren, quoted its Executive Chairman, Mr Abdulrasheed Bawa as making the call in Sokoto.

It was at a workshop on “Effective Reporting of Economic and Financial Crimes’’ for journalists in northwest Nigeria.

Sokoto Zonal Commander of the EFCC, Mr Aliyu Yunusa, represented Bawa at the workshop, Uwujaren stated.

“The media should ask questions on budget performance through deliberate monitoring and reporting; whistle-blowing on project failures; abandonment of contracts; project delays and poor project delivery.

“One way of doing this is through budget tracking. Yearly budgets of governments at all levels are announced.

“Institutions have their budgets; elected politicians have budgets for their constituencies. The media should begin to ask questions on budget performance through deliberate monitoring and reporting,’’ he stressed.

He also reminded the workshop participants about their sacred obligation as media practitioners to expose wrong deeds in society.

“I urge the media to deploy more time, energy, commitment and professional strength to exposing fraudulent activities in public and private sectors,’’ he said.

The workshop, he explained, was one of the modest efforts of the EFCC to build synergy, understanding, and cordial relationships between it and media practitioners.