Ostensibly ruffled by rising bank fraud across the country, the chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, Bolaji Owasanoye, has vowed to take concrete measures to rid the nation’s financial sector of bad eggs and instill sanity in the system.

Owasanoye, a professor, said he would, however, work with the financial institutions in his bid to flush out the sticky hands and save the banking system from further rot.

He spoke in Abuja when the management of the federal Government-owned Bank of Industry visited him to share ideas on how to improve the system.

Owasanoye, who expressed dismay over the involvement of many of the institutions in aiding and abetting financial crimes, which have tended to slow down the nation’s progress, asked the compromised elements to retrace their steps, saying, ‘one bad apple can ruin the entire bunch’.

The Chairman described how some financial institutions condone unethical conducts by opening accounts for “criminals” and how they use innuendos to make suggestions of criminality to lure customers.

He also pointed out that unethical investors undermine the ethics of the industry, and promised to deal decisively with those who infringe the law.

According to him, “It is by working together that we can isolate those who give everybody a bad name.”

The BOI Managing Director, Mr Olukayode Pitan, explained that they were on the visit to intimate the Commission of their activities and operations. He added that BOI has always counted on the cooperation of ICPC as a stakeholder.

He also noted that BOI as one of the only two Development Financial Institutions in Nigeria was used to disburse the TraderMoni and FarmerMoni Policy of the Federal Government.

According to the MD, over 1.8 million Nigerians have benefitted from the disbursement so far. (Vanguard)

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