Saraki, Magu meet at EFCC’s N24b office complex in Abuja

thenationonline

Senate President Bukola Saraki met face to face with Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) acting Chairman Ibrahim Magu in Abuja.

It was at the N24billion newly completed office complex of the anti-graft agency which Saraki inspected for about 40 minutes.

The handshake between the two men elicited thunderous applause from dignitaries, EFCC and construction giant Julius Berger Plc officlas on hand so much so that the Senate President allowed the plea of those who missed the photgraph, for another round of snapshots.

There is no love lost between the two men. The Senate has twice refused to clear Magu to become the substantive chairman of the EFCC.

This is in spite of the push by the Presidency whose insistence, has now made the Senate to abandon the clearance of many officials whose nominations are pending.

The Senate President is also facing trial over alleged false assets declaration.

But yesterday, Saraki said the war against corruption is not personal, adding that it should be everybody’s business.

He said: “If we are going to build a better society in our country, one of the main things we must tackle is the issue of corruption and how we can do that is by strengthening these institutions.

“My presence here is to say that whatever we do in our job, the most important thing is that we all represent institutions and we must work and see that it is in the interest of the country.

“So my presence here is, after a building like this where the National Assembly has played a great role, it must be my responsibility to see how the money was spent and I can see that that has been done properly and we should continue to work together to see that goes well for the entire country.

“I think we have all said it. It is something we must fight. There is no way you can build a society without fighting corruption.

“I have always said that my own strong will is that as we fight it, we must fight it in ensuring that we strengthen the institutions and what you see here is part of the process of strengthening those institutions so that whoever comes here will know that this is what we must fight if we want to build institutions.

“I think it (project) has gone through about three executive chairmen and one did not come in to say this is not my project and I must not continue. Each one has taken it as his own project.  I think that is good and that is the whole point that is important and this is something we will be proud of for many years.

“In many years to come, I hope that we don’t have corruption in an environment like this but for now, I think there are many good aspects of this. Having a Nigerian that designed this, the details are very impressive-  the clinic  and all the facilities- and the fact that it has gone through three different administration and the fact that the National Assembly has played its role and brought it to completion, I think that it is a lot of plus.”