EFCC chair Mr Bawa, a major player in the Buhari administration's anti-corruption drive, ignores steps the administration took to encourage corruption in the country.
The chairperson of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, has rated President Muhammadu Buhari high on tackling corruption. However, publicly-available facts and credible reports paint an unflattering side of the scorecard.
Mr Bawa said the EFCC, during Mr Buhari's eight-year regime, recorded more convictions than successive administrations.
"The President's anti-corruption drive...has been excellent," Mr Bawa said.
Mr Bawa, a significant player in the Buhari administration's anti-corruption drive, spoke on Thursday at the graduation ceremony of 115 detective inspectors of the commission at the Police Mobile Force Training College, Akwanga, Nasarawa State.
Drawing comparisons between Mr Buhari and his predecessors, the EFCC boss said, "In 2015, the EFCC only recorded 103 (convictions), but in his (Mr Buhari) last year in office, 2022, we recorded 3,785 convictions and all credit goes to him."
On Wednesday, inside the Presidential Villa in Abuja, Mr Bawa met with Mr Buhari, whom he presented with a memento on the outgoing administration's achievements in combating corruption.
Anti-corruption was one of the three major focuses of Mr Buhari while campaigning for office in 2015.
In recognition of the endemic nature of corruption in the country at the time, he made the famous comment, "If we don't kill corruption, corruption will kill us".
But contrary to expectations, some steps taken by his government turned out to be a significant rollback of efforts to tackle corruption in the country.
Some steps include arbitrary withdrawal of corruption charges or lack of diligent prosecution of high-profile corruption cases.
Amid the rarity of conviction of high-profile corruption suspects during the administration, the Buhari administration, last year, controversially granted pardon to two former governors whose conviction on corruption charges had been affirmed by Nigeria's Supreme Court.
The former governors who had yet to spend half of their jail time were put on trial by the previous administration.
The '2021 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices in Nigeria, which concluded that Nigerian anti-corruption agencies only targetted low and middle-level officials without making h any tangible progress in bringing high-profile persons culpable in corrupt practices to justice diminishes Mr Bawa's boast about the record number of convictions secured by the EFCC in the last few years.
Mr Buhari's association with and insensitive appointment of personalities facing investigations for corruption has also been adjudged to be an encouragement to corruption, contributing to enflaming corruption in the country.
Overall, Nigeria ranked poorly on Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index (CPI) in the last years of Mr Buhari's administration.
This year, the country struggled to move from the 154th position the previous year to the 150th position among 180 countries assessed. This means Nigeria was perceived to be more corruption-free than only 30 of the 180 countries assessed.
The unflattering side of the picture is that Nigeria only scored 24 out of total 100 points, the same as its last year's score. Nigeria's score on the CPI, on Mr Buhari's watch, spiralled down to 24 points from 26 that it was in 2019.
Bawa asks cadets to shun corruption
Earlier in his admonish to the new cadets of the anti-graft agency, Bawa urged them "to be committed to the profession you have signed up for.
"It is crucial for you to know that law enforcement, especially in the field of fighting financial crimes, is a crucial national service. It is a career that takes years to build but requires only minutes to destroy," he cautioned.
Giving a background to the training of the cadets, Mr Bawa explained that the exercise, which began last September, was aimed at boosting the manpower of the commission across Nigeria.
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He said the training centred on "basic law enforcement, operational, legal, financial studies, forensics, ICT and general studies.
"The training also entailed foot drilling on armed combat techniques and arms training to instil discipline, endurance and patience on them," the anti-graft agency chair said.
The new cadets comprised 96 males and 19 females, Mr Bawa disclosed.
In his opening remarks, the Commandant of the EFCC Academy, Ayo Olowonihi, commended the "cooperation between trainers of the Nigeria Police Force and the EFCC. They labour daily to deliver training to the cadets."
The high point of the ceremony was the presentation of excellence awards to five deserving cadets for their outstanding performances.
The EFCC was established in 2002 but became operational in April 2003 in response to criticisms Nigeria faced from the international community over advanced fee fraud.
Mr Bawa boasted that the "commission has made great strides in the fight against the ever-dynamic evil of economic and financial crimes and its attendant negative effects on our nation and economy."
