TheCable

Ibrahim Magu, acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), says Nigeria and South Africa are making plans to reach an agreement on assets recovery and repatriation.

Magu was speaking at the closing ceremony of the two-week capacity-building and mentorship programme for 10 officials of the Liberian Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) at the EFCC Academy in Abuja.

Under the agreement, assets stolen from Nigeria to South Africa would be repatriated and vice versa, according to him.

“You know that corruption is a borderless crime and we have signed MoUs with several countries on the need to exchange information and intelligence and conduct joint operations,” he said on Friday.

“Last week I was in South Africa; there is a process ongoing to sign an MoU that we can just walk to the country and recover assets stolen by our citizens with their help and likewise them over here too.”

Magu said the training was requested by President George Weah of Liberia during a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, having seen Nigeria’s success story in the fight against corruption.

According to him, the programme was sponsored by the federal government through the EFCC under a bilateral partnership between the two countries.

In a goodwill message, the Liberian president thanked the Nigerian government for the technical assistance and information exchange.

Weah, who was represented by Al-Hassan Conteh, the Liberian ambassador to Nigeria, said the lesson learnt would go a long way in his country’s fight against corruption.