 |
| Ibrahim Lamorde |
Lamorde said this on Monday in Abuja when he declared open a one-day anti-corruption sensitisation workshop for women civil society and community-based groups in the North Central zone.
Represented by Dr. David Tukura, EFCC’s Director, Planning and Statistics, the EFCC chairman disclosed that research had shown that fewer women than men were involved in corrupt practices in the country.
“We have done a gender analysis on crimes; in the area of advanced fee fraud, economic governance, money laundering, and all the others.
“When we did the gender analysis, we found out that men were tops. The index showed ninety something percent, while women’s participation is as low as less than five percent.
“So, we find that the number of women who are actually involved in economic and financial crimes are low and we can prove that statistically from our own work,” he said.
Lamorde, therefore, urged women to key into the fight against corruption and financial crimes in the country.
According to him, we are convinced that the power to change the destiny of our nation as one blighted by deep-rooted corruption lies in our hands.
He said the workshop was one little step in the long journey to make everyone take ownership of the war against corruption.
“We all agreed that corruption undermines human development and democracy, corruption reduces public revenue, often resulting in lower levels of spending on education, healthcare and other social services.
“Women are more vulnerable to the impact of corruption than men,” said the chairman.
Lamorde said participants drawn from the conclusion of the various zonal workshops were expected to form a core platform known as “Women Anti-corruption Network.”
He said that through such platform the commission and other stakeholders could interface with the public on the issue of gender and corruption.
The theme of the workshop was: “How Women’s Organisation Can Aid the Fight against Corruption, Economic and Financial Crimes.”