The Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ola Olukoyede has charged the Executive Secretary of Nigeria Police Trust Fund (NPTF), Mohammed Sheidu to toe the paths of transparency and accountability towards ensuring the actualization of the agency’s mandate.
He gave Sheidu the charge on Tuesday, when he led a delegation of NPTF management team on a courtesy visit to him at the EFCC Corporate Headquarters, Jabi, Abuja.
“The Trust Fund is to ensure that the welfare of police officers is addressed. It is to ensure that the infrastructure and equipment of the police are well taken care of. It is to give all the necessary resource support to the police that would enable them to carry out their mandate. What is important in all of this is the degree of transparency and accountability with which you have to run the affairs of the place. This is important because when you are talking of a trust fund it means that the money is coming from various sources, so the application of that fund in a transparent and accountable manner is what is expected of you,” he said.
Speaking further, the EFCC boss expressed hope that Sheidu’s leadership of NPTF would bring an improved era of transparency and accountability in the agency. “I have no doubt that your coming on board will bring more transparency and accountability in the place. I wouldn’t be comfortable with a situation where I would be getting negative Intel on your agency. So take your time, don’t put your signature in what you have not scrutinized very well because there is a thin line between transparency and fraud. So I want to encourage you to always do the right thing, the same goes to the other members of the management team. This is the gospel we preach everywhere we go,” he said.
While blaming the economic stagnation of the country on systemic corruption, Olukoyede admonished the NPTF boss to be guided by the fact that appointments are transient after which comes time of reckoning. “If we can review the systems that we have in place, to ensure transparency and accountability, this country will move forward. So I want to encourage you to always do the right thing. We are here today, we won’t be here forever, so let’s have that at the back of our minds as we occupy positions of trust. Let us remember that we are going to leave office one day and that we are going to be held accountable for what we have done while in office.”
Earlier in his remarks, Sheidu who described the EFCC as a key partner to all Nigerians and government agencies in the national quest for accountability and transparency, observed that NPTF has a share in the responsibility of ensuring that the right procedures and processes of doing things are followed and resources properly managed.
“As the executive secretary of the Nigeria Police Trust Fund, we share the responsibility of securing the integrity of our institutions and resources. Our common goal is to strengthen law enforcement, combating corruption and ensuring the safety of citizens, which can only be achieved through collaboration. Today, I look forward to discussing how our organizations can further partner in achieving these objectives, especially in the areas of capacity building, resource allocation for the police force,” he said.
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