By CHARLES IWUOHA

A member of the House of Representatives, representing Ideato North/South Federal Constituency of lmo state, Hon. Ikenga Ugochinyere Ikeagwuonu has expressed concerns over the raid of the headquarters of the Dangote Group by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The EFCC had on Thursday raided the headquarters of the Dangote Group in connection with ongoing investigation into forex allocations in the country.

It was reported that on arrival at the headquarters of the Dangote group in Lagos, the EFCC operatives demanded documents relating to allocation of foreign exchange to the group in the last ten years.

They then scrutinised the documents provided by officials of the Group for hours, carting some of them away.

Reacting to the development, Hon. Ugochinyere, who is the Chairman, House Committee on Petroleum Resources, Downstream, said the raid was capable of worsening the economic situation in the country and scaring investors.

In a statement made available to News Express on Friday, the lawmaker said raiding one of the largest conglomerates in Africa at a time when the nation was grappling to save its fragile economy, was a wrong move which would further erode efforts to stabilise the economy.

Ugochinyere said, “I read about the raid of the headquarters of the Dangote Group in connection with ongoing investigation into forex allocations in the country.

“The EFCC was reported to be investigating forex allocations to some companies during the tenure of Godwin Emefiele as Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

“I’m of the view that the timing of the raid on Dangote Group is not only very suspicious, but most importantly capable of worsening the economic situation and scaring investors.

“In the last few months, our nation has lost so many foreign investors. While some of the foreign companies operating in the country are leaving, potential investors are also sidelining us.

“Now you have the EFCC raiding the headquarters of the largest industrial conglomerates in West Africa.

“This is not good for us internationally. What will the international community think of Nigeria when they read about news like this? Dangote Group’s impact for decades has been felt through various facets of Nigeria’s economy.

“And given our current fragile economic situation, I believe this move by the EFCC will worsen things.

“Now is not the time for this; it’s time for the nation to focus on integration of African economies and expansion of trade and investments across the continent to stimulate growth and create employment opportunities.”

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