Spokesman for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Wilson Uwujaren has said that the agency secured a total of 2,220 convictions in the country in 2021.
Uwujaren who disclosed this in a statement on Thursday said the Lagos zonal command of the commission topped the list of 13 zonal offices and the headquarters, with the highest number of convictions in the last 12 months.
Uwujaren said the figures emerged from a review of the commission’s performance in the year under review.
He said the Lagos zonal command covering Lagos and Ogun states recorded 481 convictions which is the highest number recorded by any other zonal command.
Lagos command is followed by the Ibadan zonal command covering by Oyo, Osun and Ekiti states, which was said to have recorded 324 convictions.
The Port Harcourt zonal command, comprising Rivers, Bayelsa and Abia states came third with 230 convictions.
Others are Enugu zone (Enugu, Ebonyi, Imo, and Anambra states), 173; Benin zone (Edo, Delta and Ondo states), 170; Uyo zone (Akwa Ibom and Cross River states), 142; EFCC headquarters (Abuja) 140; Ilorin zone (Kwara and Kogi states), 137; Kano zone (Kano, Jigawa, and Katsina states), 121; and Abuja zone (FCT, and Nasarawa State), 94.
The rest are Kaduna zone (Kaduna and Niger states), 64; Gombe zone (Adamawa, Gombe, and Bauchi states), 58; Sokoto zone (Sokoto, Kebbi, and Zamfara states) 38; Maiduguri zone (Borno and Yobe states), 26; Makurdi zone (Benue, Taraba and Plateau states), 22.
Although the statement did not disclose the nature of the crimes committed in the cases the convictions were recorded, the commission stated that its 2021 conviction record is its highest since inception.
“Before 2021, the highest record of conviction by the commission was secured in 2019 with 1,280 convictions,” it said.
It added that the 2,220 record of 2021 is a 127.5 per cent improvement over the 2019 record.
The commission also stated that the 2,220 record represents a 98.49 per cent success rate in prosecution as the commission lost only 34 cases during this period.
