By Isaac Aregbesola
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Monday restated its commitment to uphold the fundamental human rights of citizens while fulfilling its mandate.
Its Spokesperson Wilson Uwujaren said this in a statement at the end of a workshop attended by senior officers Operations, and Legal and Prosecution Departments of the commission at a one-day joint workshop in Abuja.
The workshop is tagged “Enhancing the Synergy between Operations and the Legal and Prosecution Departments.”
Uwujaren said that the commission would continue to uphold the fundamental human rights of citizens, as well as improve on the working relationship and synergy of its departments.
In his paper entitled “Fundamental Human Rights: Obligations of the EFCC” the Director of Legal and Prosecution, Mr Sylvanus Tahir, urged the commission not to trample upon the fundamental rights of citizens while performing their duties.
He said that its duty, as a law enforcement agency, was to combat economic and financial crimes.
”The Commission’s Operatives, while carrying out their investigative activities and daily encounter criminal suspects either during arrests, interrogation, searches and statement taking, should comply with the basic human rights prescriptions.”
Tahir said that ensuring professional conduct at all times would reduce the number of civil litigations against the commission.
He advised officers of both departments to continue to work together to achieve the overall mandate of the commission.
In his remarks, the Director of Operations, CE Abdulkarim Chukkol, enjoined the various departments of the commission to be committed to smooth operations and enhanced communication among themselves.
He reminded them that members of the public judge the commission by two parameters – investigation and prosecution.
Chukol said that the meeting, the first of its kind, would become a model to follow in all the commands.
Earlier in his opening address, the acting Head of Operations, EFCC Headquarters, ACE I Ibrahim Liman, said the meeting was convened to address the bottlenecks and impediments in the working relationship between the two departments.
He stated that the meeting was aimed at achieving increased productivity and quality output in terms of investigation and prosecution.
Liman said that the engagement would be a continuous exercise.(NAN)