The Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Abdulrasheed Bawa, has called on religious leaders to preach on the ills of corruption.
The call was made at the public presentation of “Project Eat- Halal and Sermon Guide for Imam/Scholars,” organised by the Just Foundation in Guzape, Abuja.
He was represented by the Head of Creative Communications Unit of the Commission, Deputy Commander of the EFCC, Nwayinma Okeanu.
The anti-graft boss said, “We need to teach our people in the mosques, in the churches the ills of corruption in our society, how it has affected us. I do not read the Qur’an, but I am sure it speaks against corruption, and so does the Bible.”
He said aside from the responsibility of arresting and prosecuting culprits of financial crime, the EFCC is also mandated to prevent economic crimes including corruption. This he says the Commission does by working with faith-based organisations like the Just Foundation.
According to him, “A lot of people think that the EFCC is only about arrest and prosecution, but I want to stand here to tell all of us that the EFCC is working very much in line with what project “Eat-Hala” is all about”.
On his part, the Chairman of the occasion and Director of MacArthur Foundation Africa Office, Dr. Kole Shettima expressed his delight at the launch of “Sermon Guide”, saying the book will serve as a guideline to Imams, leaders and scholars on how to interact with people, and will also be an instrument to guide how the work should be done.