Financial crime prosecution, legal certainty and exigency of policy: case of Nigeria's EFCC
Purpose – In its fight against money laundering involving politically exposed persons (PEPs), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has the dual mandate of maintaining equilibrium between two fundamental, but sharply contradictory objectives: establishing guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, and responding to the policy imperative of nipping corruption in the bud through a pro-active involvement in preventative measures. This paper contends that as a result of the tension between these two divergent ends, the agency has found itself the spider in a cobweb of legalism designed by its adversaries to stymie its operations. Furthermore, and as a matter of priority, the paper calls for a major rethink of the appropriateness of criminal jurisdiction in the prosecution of financial crimes in Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – Case study and textual analysis of literature. Findings – Civil jurisdiction of extracting the proceeds of the ...
Research as a Tool for Fighting Corruption in Nigeria: A Focus on ICPC and EFCC
This paper examines the research efforts of anti-corruption agencies (ACAs) in Nigeria, with a view to identifying the challenges and prospects involved in getting ACAs to conduct quality research on corruption and integrate same into the design and implementation of anti-corruption interventions. Relying on existing secondary sources and some primary data, the study noted that Nigeria’s ACAs are endowed with sufficient research mandate mostly derived from their establishment Acts. These have enabled them to carry out some research on the activities of key sectors or institutions of the national economy. The findings from some of these research identified loopholes which enabled corrupt practices to proliferate, as well as exposed some of the major hurdles involved in fighting corruption in Nigeria. Consequently, several policy and institutional reforms have been put in place through the support of the ACAs concerned, some of which have led to improvements that could minimise the potential for future corrupt practices. At the same time, these ACAs face several daunting challenges including paucity of funds, inadequate prioritisation of research activities by the leadership of ACAs and low research capacity. These factors have undermined the capacity of these ACAs to effectively carry out their onerous research tasks.
State, Economy and Society
From the problems of Marxism to the primacy of politics deconstructing Marxism a hegemony approach to capitalist regulation the modern welfare state from the capitalist state to the political economy theorizing the capitalist state a strategic-relational account of economic state explaining the economic output of the state towards a society-wide research design.