In his message, the chairman of EFCC, Mr. Ola Olukoyede, lamented that the fight against corruption in Nigeria was being hindered by many factors

He said: "A number of issues have encumbered the fight against corruption, many of which are known to this distinguished audience.

" They include public cynicism which is a major morale dampener for anti-graft officials; security of tenure of anti-corruption agency heads, with implication for independence of the agencies; challenges in prosecution of high profile corruption cases; non-sustenance of accountability reforms in the public sector, and more.

"We are not likely to make the kind of impact envisaged until these challenges are addressed. We must also examine the ease with which public officers are able to siphon humongous sums from the public till without any warning systems."

The British High Commissioner, Richard Montgomery, in his remarks, said there was a lot of international evidence that corruption perpetuates poverty.

The British government, he said, would continue to ollaborate with Nigerian anti-corruption agencies to achieve more results.

He said: "We have helped to see more transparency in the oil sector. We will work more closely with agencies of government, for more progress has to be made to attract more investments into the sector."

The high commissioner admitted that other nations, including his, were not blameless in the illegal financial outflows but noted that his government had been working hard to make it impossible for illegal funds to find a safe haven there and had been helping to return looted funds back to Nigeria.

Also speaking, the Director-General of the National Orientation Agency, NOA, Mr. Lanre Isa-Onilu, said corruption in Nigeria would not have been very challenging as seen currently, if the foreign participants did not provide looters havens to hide their loots.

He urged all Nigerians to work together to make the country uncomfortable for people with bad behaviour.