The management of the University of Ibadan (UI) in Oyo state has promised to partner with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC) in its campaign against criminal tendencies among students of tertiary institutions across Nigeria.
The vice chancellor of the university, Prof Abel Idowu Olayinka, gave the institution’s commitment when he received officers of the Commission to pay him a courtesy visit.
Describing the EFCC’s mandate of waging war against all forms of economic and financial crimes as “a difficult national assignment”, the UI helmsman noted that the nation’s foremost anti-graft agency deserves the support of everyone.
EFCC spokesperson, Tony Orilade stated in a statement that worried by the rising cases of involvement of young undergraduates in financial crimes, the EFCC had written to seek partnership with the premier university in mapping out strategies to stem the trend, especially in institutions of higher learning.
It would be recalled that in recent times, the Commission had secured arrests and convictions of a number of young men engaged in financial crimes of different kinds. Most of them, according to records, are either undergraduates or fresh graduates of higher institutions of learning.
“The nature of arrests and convictions our Commission secures in recent times, in which a large number of culprits are youth who are supposedly our hope and future as a nation, has made it more pressing for us to engage our higher institutions of learning in thinking out strategies to stem the disturbing trend.
“As the premier university of our dear country, we believe it will be of great significance to start this campaign with a visit to the leadership of this leading ivory tower,” the Commission stated in a letter written to the university to initiate the partnership.
