By AUSTIN OWOICHO, Abuja
The House of Representatives Committee on Financial Crimes has queried the EFCC for not recruiting the 420 new staff they were supposed to last year as approved by the committee.
According to the committee chairman, Honourable Ibrahim Abdullahi Dutse, it was as a result of the request by the committee to recruit the new staff that the committee jacked up the personnel cost of the commission.
He also observed that out of the appropriated 24.9 billion Naira last year, 21.3 billion Naira has been released and only 17.6 billion Naira had been utilized.
Responding, the acting chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Mohammed Umar, attributed the delayin the recruitment by the commission to the covid-19 pandemic.
Mohammed Umar, highlighted some of the challenges facing the commission which include needs to have special courts to try corruption cases, increase in personnel and security for personnel.
Others according to him include poor release of capital votes.
The acting chairman also lamented that the issue of 5% recoveries to be given as cost of collection to the commission had not been approved.
