Tinubu Directs EFCC To Release Recovered Looted Funds To Finance Students' Loans ~ OsazuwaAkonedo #Bola #Loans #NELFUND #news #students #Tinubu https://osazuwaakonedo.news/tinubu-directs-efcc-to-release-recovered-looted-funds-to-finance-students-loans/14/08/2024/ #EFCC Published: August 14th, 2024 Reshared: August 14, 2024 5:33 pm Nigeria President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu has directed the Economic and Financial Crimes
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00:00Nigeria President Bola Ametimwu has directed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
00:05EFCC to release N50 billion of recovered looted funds to finance the student loan scheme.
00:12This was made known few minutes ago in a news statement issued by the Economic and
00:16Financial Crimes Commission EFCC while reacting to public outcry that the commission had donated
00:22the said money to the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, NEL Fund. According to EFCC,
00:28President Bola Ametimwu, who is currently in Malabo, the capital of Equatorial Guinea,
00:34for a three-day official visit considered to invest the money in the most vulnerable
00:38segments of the Nigerian population. President Timubu's aircraft touched down at the
00:43presidential wing of the Malabo International Airport at about 2.07 p.m. local time onward
00:49and was received by the Prime Minister of the country, Manuela Rokabote, on arrival.
00:54President Timubu's visit is at the invitation of his Equatorial Guinean counterpart,
00:59President Theodora Obiam Ngema Obasogo, according to TVC News reports. EFCC said the money was never
01:07a donation from him to NEL Fund rather it acted based on the president's directive.
01:12EFCC's statement reads thus, The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC,
01:18wishes to clarify the reports in the section of the media today, August 14, 2024,
01:23purporting that the commission donated N50 billion to the Nigerian Education Loan Fund,
01:29NEL Fund, from its recovery account. They say fund was not a donation by the commission but
01:34part of the recovered proceeds of crime remitted to the government.
01:38President Bola Ametimwu, in furtherance of his social intervention policy for the most
01:43vulnerable segments of the population, decided in his wisdom to plough the money into funding
01:48the critically acclaimed student loan scheme. It is not the place of the commission to determine
01:54where the government commits recovered proceeds of crime. But the student loan scheme is a
01:59salutary innovation which has the potential to reduce youth involvement in criminality.
02:05As the commission's chairman, Ola Olukawai disclosed during a courtesy visit to the
02:09commission by the NEL Fund's Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Akintinde Soya
02:15on August 13, 2024, that the EFCC will monitor the use of the funds to ensure accountability
02:22and the realization of the objectives of the scheme. Olukawai commends Tinugo on NEL Fund,
02:28calls for transparency in this bustling. The Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial
02:34Commission, EFCC, Mr. Ola Olukawai has applauded President Bola Ametimwu on his initiative
02:41regarding the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, NEL Fund, describing it as a policy issued to tackle
02:46corruption. He gave the commendation in Abuja on Tuesday, August 13, 2024, while receiving the
02:53Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, NEL Fund, Mr. Akintinde Soya, who came with his
02:59management into the corporate headquarters of the EFCC on a courtesy visit. Olukoyede pointed out
03:05that inability of many parents to fund the education of their children had always been
03:09a predisposing factor of corruption, making students vulnerable to all forms of economic
03:15and financial crimes. This inducement to corruption, he said, would no longer stand
03:21with the NEL Fund's intervention through the President. One of the main incentives to cyber
03:26crimes is the inability of parents to fund the education of their children. NEL Fund is a policy
03:32issue against crimes. President Sinugu should be commended for initiating the fund, he said.
03:38The EFCC's boss called on the management team of NEL Fund to be sensitive to the trust proposed
03:43in them, warning that the EFCC would leave no stone unturned to achieve transparent handling
03:48of the fund. Let your hands be clean. I repeat, let your hands be clean. The work entrusted to
03:55you is going to help the EFCC fight corruption. Let your systems and processes be transparent,
04:01he said. Olukoyede further explained his desire for accountable handling of NEL Fund was informed
04:07by passion for transparency and not any threat of any kind. He vowed that the EFCC would do everything
04:14to prevent the relooting of the fund. I will fight to ensure that money pooled together to support
04:19NEL Fund is not relooted. We want your management to be giving reports of your disbursement to the
04:25EFCC. Continuing, he advised Sawyer, don't sign what is not clear to you. Don't give in to any
04:33pressure. Let your staff know that there is no money to share. He called on Nigerians to rally
04:38around the management of NEL Fund to ensure that the scheme succeeds. Nigerians should come together
04:44to ensure that the program succeeds. It is our duty to help the president succeed, he said.
04:51In his remark, Sawyer explained that NEL Fund was a laudable program designed to provide funding
04:56for education of indigent students. He decried the neglect of youths over the years which made
05:01them to be backward in their education pursuits. The youths constitute the most populous, restive
05:07but neglected segments of our population. President Sinuwo identified this as a major
05:13problem and put in place a major solution to address the issue, he said. He appreciated the
05:19EFCC for the 50 billion Nairas injected into NEL Fund from the proceeds of crime recovered by the
05:24commission. We are aware of the funds from the proceeds of crime extended to NEL Fund.
05:30We are here to express our gratitude for the gesture. We also want the EFCC to exercise
05:36oversight on what we are doing, he said. On Ukoyedeta's views on transparency,
05:42accountability, the executive chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission,
05:47EFCC, Mr. Ola Olukoyede, has charged students across the country to imbibe the virtues of
05:53transparency, accountability and integrity and to shun all forms of corruption, economic and
05:58financial crimes. He gave the charge on Monday, August 12, 2024, while addressing the students
06:05of Epitome Model Islamic School in an event-tagged 12th Teenagers Workshop organized by Al-Habibiyah
06:11Islamic Society for Teenagers with focus on positioning the youth on the path of anti-corruption
06:16lifestyle. Olukoyede, who was represented by the head, enlightenment and reorientation of the
06:22commission, assistant commander of the EFCC, has to Aisha Mohammed stated that transparency
06:28revolved around accountability, responsibility, openness and honesty. You can say transparency
06:34is being open and honest. Accountability is the willingness to account for one's actions,
06:40while integrity is the quality of being driven by high moral principles. Accountability ensures
06:46that individuals and institutions take responsibility for their actions. It promotes
06:50answerability and explanations for decisions and behaviors. In the EFCC we say integrity is doing
06:58the right thing even when no one is watching you, he said. While charging the students to keep away
07:03from financial vices, Olukoyede explained that the business of the EFCC was to investigate and
07:09prosecute cases of corruption, economic and financial crimes and to prevent them from even
07:14occurring. That is why we have come to talk to you right now to ensure that you keep away from
07:20corruption, he said. Chief Superintendent of the EFCC, CSE, Catherine Ukeka urged the students to
07:27join hands with the commission in the anti-corruption fight to make Nigeria a better place for all.
07:33We have to make Nigeria better, that is the message that we brought to your school this
07:37morning. The message of anti-corruption fight, transparency, accountability and integrity
07:43necessary to make you become good citizens of the country, she said. On his part, Deputy
07:49Superintendent of the EFCC, Giyas Yabaz Abubakar charged the students to embrace integrity as their
07:55moral compass in all they do. Learn to say something when you see something and do not
08:00steal or covet what is not yours. Whoever sees something that is not right should correct it
08:06using his hands, if he cannot, he should use his mouth to speak against it and if he cannot,
08:11he should have that wrong in his heart, he said. Haji Arafat Salame, who spoke on behalf of the
08:17management of the school, thanked the EFCC for the engagement with the students and the good
08:21working relationship the school has with the commission.