Embrace accountability, transparency, EFCC urges BPE
EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede has urged Ayodeji Gbeleyi, Director-General, Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) to embrace integrity, accountability, and transparency in discharging his duties to fulfill expectations of Nigerians.
Dele Oyewale, spokesperson for the anti-graft commission (EFCC), said this in a statement on Thursday.
He explained that Olukoyede gave the task when a delegation of BPE led by Gbeleyi paid him a courtesy visit in Abuja.
According to him, public office is a position of trust and as such Nigeria leaders should always strive to justify the confidence reposed in them by the people.
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“By virtue of what we do and see every day, public office is a position of trust because you are appointed to serve the people.
“You, therefore, owe the people a high level of integrity, accountability, and transparency.
“I also want you to know that the country is looking up to you because the mandate given to you is extremely pivotal in stimulating the economy.
“So, it is extremely important for us to look upon you with expectations,” he said.
According to him, public office is a position of trust and every leader in Nigeria should always strive to justify the confidence reposed in them by the people. “By the virtue of what we do and see everyday, public office is a position of trust because you were appointed to serve the people.
You therefore, owe the people a high level of integrity, accountability and transparency. I also want you to know that the whole country is looking up to you because the mandate given to you is extremely pivotal in stimulating the economy so it is extremely important for us to look at you with expectations”, he said.
He further pointed out that “some people started well but ended badly. In the EFCC, we have seen a situation where somebody left office about three decades ago and we brought him in to answer questions. We have also seen people who were ministers 25 to 30 years ago come back to us to answer questions. Some of them are currently facing prosecution. So, it is extremely important to let good conscience guide you in whatever you do”.
Olukoyede assured the BPE of EFCC’s readiness for enhanced collaboration, and promised to give the bureau the support it would require in the course of carrying out its mandate.
He urged the bureau to always be forthcoming with information that the commission might require from it in the course of its investigations and prosecutions.
“On our part we are ready to collaborate with you, and if there is any area you want us to give you support, we will always be willing and ready to.
“Along the line, we will also be needing your support to give us information when it comes to investigation of some of our cases. What we are doing is in the interest of the nation,” he said.
Gbeleyi, who used the occasion to speak on the activities of the Bureau and its new trajectory, disclosed that the BPE was recalibrating its ways of doing things for optimal results, efficiency, and transparency.
“For us, the future looks bright because we are revamping our processes and procedures to ensure that most of our transactions are corruption-proof.
“This is to ensure greater level of efficiency and due diligence from incubation of our transactions to structuring, negotiations and foreclosure, such that some of the legacy issues that we inherited will be proactively mitigated.
“So, that we will be able to contribute our modest quota to the President’s Renewed Hope Agenda, especially in the anti-corruption drive and in achieving the 1 trillion dollars GDP economy.
“So, we are here to speak on that and to introduce ourselves and seek a way to further expand the frontiers of our collaboration with the commission,” he said.
According to him, the collaboration will be in terms of future transactions of the bureau.