Farida Waziri has been fired with immediate effect, a presidential statement said
(Adds background, details, quotes)
LONDON (TrustLaw) – The head of Nigeria’s anti-corruption agency was unexpectedly fired with immediate effect on Wednesday, following a statement issued by the office of the country’s President Goodluck Jonathan.
Farida Waziri had been chair of Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) since May 2008, appointed by former President Umaru Yar’Ada, and was expected to serve at least another year as EFCC chair.
“The president has approved the appointment of Mr Ibrahim Lamorde as the acting chairman/chief executive of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission,” the statement said.
“The appointment takes immediate effect, and effectively relieves Mrs Farida Waziri of her position as EFCC Chairman,” the statement added.
The statement did not give the reasons why Waziri was sacked.
However, critics had been calling for her removal, saying the EFCC’s anti-corruption work had grown timid and lethargic since her appointment in comparison to the years when her predecessor Nuhu Ribadu headed the body.
“The terrific work of the EFCC built by Nuhu Ribadu was substantially undermined during the Yar’Adua period after Ribadu’s departure,” said Todd Moss, vice president for programs and senior fellow at the Center for Global Development.
“Although the EFCC has made some recent efforts to recover lost ground, new leadership seems like a positive step in rebuilding the commission’s credibility and renewing the once-aggressive fight against fraud and graft.”
In August, a report by Human Rights Watch said the EFCC had failed in its mission to combat pervasive corruption that some experts say has fuelled political violence, denied millions of Nigerians access to the most basic health and education services, and reinforced police abuses and other widespread patterns of human rights violations.
“Despite its promise, the EFCC has fallen far short of its potential and eight years after its inception is left with a battered reputation and an uncertain record of accomplishment,” the Human Rights Watch report said.
Since its inception, the EFCC has arraigned more than 30 nationally prominent political figures on corruption charges and has recovered some $11 billion, but many of the corruption cases against the political elite have made little progress in the courts, the report said.
The agency has often blamed the low rate of convictions to slow and overburdened judicial procedures. Only this week, Waziri insisted on the key role courts have to play in completing the work done by agencies such as the EFCC.
“The best any law enforcement agency can do is to properly investigate cases and file charges, after which the courts take over,” she said during a lecture at the Nigeria’s National Defence College.
“The frustrations faced by the law enforcement agencies within the tedious common law process of administration of justice must be voided,” Waziri added.
The acting head of the anti-graft agency, Ibrahim Lamorde, was director of operations at the EFCC under Waziri and her predecessor.
(Editing by Rebekah Curtis)
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