The Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, has said that he strongly believes that the coronavirus is caused by corruption.
Magu stated this at the Passing Out Parade, POP, of 281 cadets of the EFCC Detective Inspector Course-5, at the Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna, on Tuesday.
His words: “Corruption is the biggest strategy to human kind. Your Excellency, corruption is worse than all the diseases now running about.
“And I strongly believe, Your Excellency, that even the coronavirus is caused by corruption”, Magu said.
Coronavirus, officially named COVID-19, broke out in Wuhan, in Hubei province of China, in December, last year.
The disease has infected over 1,716 Medical workers in China alone, and over 73,000 infected persons in 25 countries, causing not less than 1,875 deaths. Majority of the deaths are in Wuhan.
The exact cause of the disease has not been determined, neither has a cure been found.
Magu described the fight against corruption, as a crusade against the evils in the society.
“Fighting corruption is thus a crusade against the evils of our society, that are deeply rooted and threatening to consume us.
“We are aware that the task is not easy, and the path can be very thorny and lonely, but with determination and a high sense of mission, we are making a progress towards rooting out this evil from our society
“As part of vigorous pursuit, the Commission has created new specialised Directorate and section, taking into cognisance the changing phase of criminality”, he said.
“This Directorate includes asset forfeiture and recovery management directorate, forensic and science laboratory directorate, anti-money laundering, and countering the financing of terrorism section.
“As at 2015, we had 103 convictions, in 2016, 195 convictions, 314 in 2018, over 1,218 convictions were secured in 2019”, he said.