Senate considers bill to give lawmakers power to ratify sack of EFCC chair

The senate has considered a bill seeking to empower itself to ratify the decision of a president to sack the chairperson of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The bill was passed for second reading at the upper legislative chamber on Tuesday after Chukwuka Utazi, senator representing Enugu north and sponsor of the legislation, moved a motion.

The senate already has the power to approve the decision of the president in appointing the chairperson of EFCC.

While leading the debate, Utazi said the proposal is necessary to guarantee the security of the tenure of any substantive chairperson of the anti-graft agency.

Contributing to the debate, James Manager, senator representing Delta south, said if the senate has the power to confirm the appointment of the EFCC chairperson, it should also have the power to approve the sack.

“We have already put in place the same law that we are talking about into the ICPC and FIU. So there is nothing wrong. If we have the right to confirm, we also have the right to approve removal,” Manager said.

“The other one is the issue of tenure of office and when you talk about the person who is leaving, who is to replace him? Is it from inside the service or from any other person outside the commission?”

On his part, Adamu Aliero, senator representing Kebbi central, said the bill would promote “institutionalism and professionalism”.

“It will enhance the capability of the EFCC,” he said.

“I say this because appointing the headship of an agency like EFCC from outside the commission will lower the morale of the serving officers of the agency. If somebody is brought from outside and imposed on them, definitely it will lower their morale.”

Senate President Ahmad Lawan said the law should ensure the successive heads of the commission are picked from within its ranks.

“The committee should work hard to ensure while we are looking for somebody from inside, that person should be able to have the support of his colleagues to succeed,” Lawan said.

“I believe we should encourage people from the inside to grow to be leaders of the commission.”

The bill was referred to the committee on anti-corruption and financial crimes for further legislative input.

In 2017, Ibrahim Magu, a former acting chairman of the EFCC, was rejected at least thrice by the senate.