The Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, has identified corruption as the root cause of the separatist agitation and militancy in the country.
He made this declaration on Thursday, June 29, 2017 while flagging off a two-day Electronic and Social Media Review and Training Summit held at the Old Auditorium, EFCC Academy, Karu, Abuja.
The summit, an initiative of the Public Affairs Directorate of the EFCC, is the first social and electronic media programmes review by the agency. The initiative is part of the Commission’s efforts to enhance its communication strategies and channels used in engaging members of the public in the fight against corruption.
Magu, who said the unity of the country is one that cannot be compromised, urged the participants to up the ante in sensitizing the public on the ills of corruption, adding that if the country was free of corruption, people would not be engaging in needless agitations.
His words: "We can change the perception of this country. I urge you all to be committed in this fight using your various platforms. The root cause of the hate speeches by the Arewa and Igbo youths is corruption. Some people are actually funding them. The looters of our common wealth are the ones responsible for the woes bedeviling Nigeria. We must do everything possible to secure the unity of this country. People who don’t deserve anything are taking everything and if there is no common consensus to halt the trend, the future of our children yet unborn would be mortgaged”.
The EFCC boss urged all the participants to take a critical look at the social media platforms of EFCC and come out with suggestions on how to make them better.
In his presentation at the event, Joe Abah, Director General, Bureau for Public Service Reforms, commended the EFCC, describing it as the leading anti-graft agency in Nigeria.
“The EFCC deserves a lot of credit. You are doing a great job. Your work is what we all need you to do but many of us don’t want you do the work.
“The EFCC is clearly chatting a new path for social media engagement for the anti-graft agencies looking at its statistics on twitter, Facebook, You tube, Google+, and Instagram”, Abah said.
He said there was the need for the other sister agencies to constantly compare notes so as to improve information sharing mechanisms across the social media.
Also speaking, a prominent blogger, Joshua Japhet Omojuwa, who shared his wealth of knowledge on “Digital Media in Nigeria”, said that there was no way one could deny the great works and achievements of the EFCC.
While admitting that the EFCC’s twitter handle “was strong”, Omojuwa said that, “the EFCC is the twitter handle of the year 2017” going by its prognosis.
He further shed light on how the new media could be used to make the job of corruption fight more effective.
“Social media pages should be domiciled in your website. Your website is your headquarters of your activities in the Commission. You need to start creating visual contents and engage the influencers”, Omojuwa advised.
He warned that the Commission should be wary of hackers saying, “I noticed that the EFCC has many fake facebook accounts adding that, that could be very damaging to the image of the Commission. The facebook should be contacted to block the fake accounts”.
In her remark, Lauretta Onochie, Special Adviser to the president on Social Media, called on all Nigerians to “join the Buhari led administration in tackling the hydra-headed monster called corruption”, which had been a clog in the wheel of progress of the country.
“We need to stand up against corruption. Let us live as patriots of our nation. I plead with every Nigerian to support the nation and the EFCC in the anti-corruption war. Let us all come together and kill corruption”, Onochie charged.
Other resource persons at the event are Ndukwe Rosita Chinyere, a producer with Voice of Nigeria (VON); Jahswill Stephen, presenter of popular radio programme, “Talk your own”, who critique “The Eagle on Radio” and offered valuable suggestions on ways to make the programme more engaging.
The summit would be rounded off on Friday with a review of “The Eagle on TV” by Sola Atere and Lara Owoeye-Wise of NTA and AIT respectively.
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