Working Paper 007 The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the politics of (in) effective implementation of Nigeria’s anti-corruption policy Emilia Onyema1, Pallavi Roy2, Habeeb Oredola 3 and Seye Ayinla4 November 2018 1
[email protected], SOAS University of London 2
[email protected], SOAS University of London 3,4 Habeeb Oredola Barristers & Solicitors The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the politics of (in)effective implementation of Nigeria’s anti-corruption policy Contents Acknowledgments 3 Acronyms 3 Executive summary 4 1. Introduction 5 2. Context: corruption in Nigeria and the role of the EFCC 7 3. The ACA eco-system in Nigeria 12 4. The effectiveness of the EFCC as a prosecuting agency 24 5. Factors that constrain the effectiveness of the EFCC 29 5.1. Political capture 29 5.2. Organisational deficiencies 30 5.3. Judicial process 32 6. Conclusion and recommendations 35 Recommendations 35 References 36 Legislations and subsidiary instruments 38 Case Law 38 Figures Figure 1: ACE framework 10 Tables Table 1: Legislative mandates for inter-agency collaboration and coordination 15 Table 2: The remit of ACAs’ enforcement powers 19 Table 3: Operational activities of the EFCC (2010-2015) 25 2 The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the politics of (in)effective implementation of Nigeria’s anti-corruption policy Acknowledgments The authors gratefully acknowledge the contributions and assistance provided by Simeon Obidairo for comments and ideation in preparing the report and to Joanna Fottrell, editor. Acronyms