By Olawale Lamina
The Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences, ICPC, Commission, Dr. Musa Adamu Aliyu, SAN, has assured the British High Commission of his organization’s continued support in tackling visa racketeering in Nigeria.
The ICPC boss made this known when he received Mr. Coran Oakley, the International Liaison Manager of the Home Office International Operations in the British High Commission, Abuja in his office.
Dr. Aliyu said that he was well abreast of the existing working relationship with the British High Commission and assured that the ICPC would always be prepared to continue to work with the High Commission, emphasizing that the collaboration would be given priority under his leadership.
He said that the ICPC was mindful of how hard it was to tackle corruption especially regarding issuance of visas, stressing that “the Commission is ready to work with the High Commission to checkmate the criminals involved in visa racketeering.
The ICPC Chairman expressed excitement over the visit and assured his guest that the Commission would ensure that the required staff with the right capacity and integrity would be deployed to carry out tthe very important assignment.
Dr. Aliyu expressed the confidence that both organisations would seek more avenues to collaborate in other areas that would be mutually beneficial.
In his remark, Mr. Oakley stated that his mission in ICPC was to build on collaborations they had established some years back.
He added that another crucial reason of his visit was to seek the ICPC’s help in going after organized immigration crime elements behind the visa scams by arresting and prosecuting them.
The International Liaison Manager reiterated that the relationship with ICPC would be long-term that would make it quite hard for criminals to target innocent Nigerians, but at the same time make it a lot easier for the citizens to get British visas.
The visitor informed the ICPC boss that he would require some ICPC officers who would be well trained and specially tasked with investigating issues surrounding British visa fraud as well as those involving countries like Germany, France, and Canada, who are faced with similar problems.
He challenged the ICPC team to include a member from the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) as a point of contact, adding that this would ease the flow of information sharing between the two agencies by getting documents with ease and also reducing any form of delays.
The ICPC had previously engaged in strategic interventions on visa issues resulting in arrests, prosecutions, and convictions of several persons, thereby earning the Commission certain commendations from embassies and high commissions in Nigeria, including those of the British, USA, India and numerous others.
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