In Kano, Jigawa, and Katsina states between January and July of this year, the Kano Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission detained 81 defendants, 68 of whom had previously been found guilty of various financial offences.

The leadership of Kano Correspondents’ Chapel, Nigeria Union of Journalists, paid him a courtesy visit in his office on Tuesday. Farouk Dogondaji, the Kano Zonal Commander, addressed during an interactive session with them.

Dogondaji claimed that the Zone, which is based in Kano, also includes the states of Jigawa and Katsina.

He stated, “In the last seven months, the Zonal Command documented the arrest of 81 people for various financial offences. In addition, 68 of those who were arrested have been found guilty by us.

In a similar vein, he urged the populace to provide the Commission with beneficial information without holding back so that it could combat financial crimes in the state.

Organizing demonstrations, lectures, workshops, and seminars against financial crimes, particularly in primary and secondary schools, where students are taught to maintain integrity and live a financial crime-free life, the Commission, he claimed, has gone beyond prosecution to crime prevention.

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He added that the EFCC in the region had finished looking into individuals detained in connection with the general elections of 2023.

“They will soon be charged to court. Our lawyers are working with lawyers from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the ICPC for their prosecution,” he added.

He, however, commended the leadership of Kano Correspondents’ Chapel for their partnership and promised to keep the relationship growing.

In his remarks, the Chairman of Kano Correspondents’ Chapel, Alhaji Aminu Garko, commended the EFCC Zonal Commander and his management team for their warm reception.

Garko, however, appealed to the EFCC’s headquarters to decentralize the release of information to journalists, so that Zonal Commands would have the right to give needed information to working journalists in their zones for easy dissemination.

Garko added, “It is not in the best interest of the Commission to centralise information at the headquarters. Zonal Commanders should be allowed to churn out first-hand information to practicing journalists in their respective zones.