Acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, has said he is strongly convinced that corruption is the cause of the deadly virus, coronavirus (COVID-19).
Magu said this at the passing out parade of 281 cadets of the EFCC Detective Inspector Course-5, at the Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna, on Tuesday, February 18.
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Coronavirus, officially named COVID-19, which broke out in Wuhan in Hubei province of China in December has spread to 29 countries and territories around the world and 1 international conveyance (the “Diamond Princess” cruise ship currently harbored in Yokohama, Japan) with over 75,216 infected persons and not less than 2,012 deaths.
Magu, who was commenting on the side effects of corruption, said the social vice is worse than any known disease, and is the cause of coronavirus.
According to him, corruption is a huge burden to Nigeria and corruption was worse than any disease, adding that “its (corruption) elimination is of paramount importance to the growth of the nation.”
Magu added that;
Tackling corruption is a clarion call, given that corruption is a huge burden to the nation. It is worse than Cancer, Ebola Virus, Coronavirus and all other deadly diseases put together.
The EFCC is not satisfied with just prosecuting and jailing the fraudsters, rather the commission has concluded plans to reform them in collaboration with relevant government agencies towards making them better citizens.
In his words;
EFCC has zero tolerance for corruption as our mandate is to kill corruption as corruption is worse than all the diseases we have now and I strongly believe coronavirus is caused by corruption.
Corruption is a huge burden to our nation it has spread to insecurity, poverty, unemployment, falling standard of education, weak access to affordable health care, falling infrastructure and so many others.
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He stated that the fight against corruption is one that must be won to secure a better future for present Nigerians and future generations, adding that one of the progress made in the fight against corruption is the increase in the convictions of cases.
He noted that “as at 2015, there were 103 convictions, in 2016 195 convictions, 314 in 2018, over 1218 convictions were secured in 2019.”
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