EFCC Rewards Schools on Anti-Corruption Debate

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Tuesday,  May 30, 2023 rewarded two secondary schools:  Government Girls Secondary School, Dutse, Abuja, and Intelligence Quotient Academy, Garki, Abuja for their outstanding performance in a debating competition on evils of economic and financial crimes.

The two schools emerged first and second winners among eight secondary schools that debated the topic: Students are critical in the fight against corruption. While Government Girls Secondary School scored 86% to cling the first place, Intelligence Quotient Academy came second with 79%.

Commenting on their performance, EFCC Chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa, commended all the participating schools for their impressive performance and urged the students to continue to use their talents and skills for the greater good of the nation. “The theme of this year’s competition is a fitting one. This is the reason the EFCC is planting, developing or engaging the integrity clubs that we have in schools in order to inculcate the values of hard work, integrity, probity, and accountability.

Bawa, who spoke through his Chief of Staff, Mrs. Hadiza Gamawa, also stated that “we also believe,  as children, you have the enormous potentials to be change agents, anti-corruption watchdogs, ambassadors, whistle-blowers, and awareness creators on the ills of corruption both at home and in schools”. He charged students across the country to identify more with the EFCC and carry the anti-corruption banner to all ends of the country.

Speaking earlier, the Director, of Public Affairs of the Commission, Commander of EFCC, CE Osita Nwajah, says the debate is a thought-provoking engagement that will further enrich the campaigns against economic and financial crimes including corruption in Nigeria.

“We have taken cognizance of the fact that the people that we interface with at the Commission, in terms of investigation, prosecution, and conviction comprise young people. So we find it necessary to bring everybody, especially the youths, the very young ones, and at this level of education, to engage with them to start fighting the war from the very root, from the homes, from schools and we thought the best way to do it is through this kind of exercise; this intellectual engagement that speaks to the very mandate of the EFCC”, he said.

In a  remark, the Director of Audit of the Commission, CE Idowu Apejoye congratulated the participants and other representatives of the schools and urged them to go out and pass the anti-corruption message to their parents, friends, neighbors, and the larger society in order to make Nigeria greater. “You have shown that our efforts with Integrity Clubs in secondary schools are yielding fruits”, she said.

The overall winner of the competition: Government Girls Secondary School, GGSS, got N150,000 (One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira) and a plaque while the runner-up: Intelligence Quotient Academy, got N100,000 (One Hundred Thousand Naira only) and a plaque.

Credit: EFCC