Institute decries Nigeria’s huge spending on foreign forensic experts

The Chartered Institute of Forensics and Certified Fraud Examiners of Nigeria (CIFCFEN) has decried the huge amount of money spent yearly on hiring forensics experts from the United Kingdom, South Africa, United States, and other countries, assuring that the institute would do everything within its powers to reverse the trend.

At the fourth Proficiency Course Graduation, Anti-Corruption Awards and Honourary Fellowship Conferment Award Ceremony of the institute held in Abuja, the President/Chairman of Council of the institute, Dr. Iliyasu Gashinbaki, said CIFCFEN was building capacity where professionals with diverse specialised skills would be raised to put an end to needless capital flight that happens when the country recruits foreign forensic and fraud examiners.

He said the institute would continue to build capacity for lawyers, judges, and members of the National Assembly to prepare them for emerging issues concerning forensic and fraud examination.

“That is our commitment and the graduation today is a symbolic step to demonstrate our commitment to that and we will continue to do that,” he said.

He added that the institute would continue to steer and inspire good governance in Nigeria.

Gashinbaki said the recipients of the award were carefully chosen from a poll the institute conducted that covered more than 60,000 respondents.

“Aside from that, we decided that we will identify governors that are instituting fiscal reforms at the local government level, as regards transparency, accountability, and probity,” he noted.

Gashinbaki said the depth and content of the institute’s curriculum were hands-on and practical, noting that it was no longer about theorising on forensic and fraud examination but the practical application of these two key areas.

Thirty graduands of the fourth Proficiency course of the institute also received their certificates and tool kits at the event.

The governor of Adamawa State, Ahmadu Umaru Finitri, bagged this year’s Best Transparency Support Initiatives Governor award while his Niger State counterpart received the Best Financial Inclusion Governor award.

Similarly, the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, represented by the Special Adviser on Financial Crime, Abiodun Aikomo, bagged the Anti-Corruption Crusader of the Year award.

The Accountant General of the Federation, Alhaji Ahmed Idris, who was represented by the Director, ICT, Afolabi Ajayi, was also inducted as an Honourary Fellow of the institute alongside Prof. Blessing Ngozi Ijeoma of the Department of Management Science, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka.