OVATION AS MAGU GETS GLOBAL COMMENDATION OVER FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION

The acting Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu

Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, has been endorsed by 25 countries for his fight against corruption.

The commission's spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, made this known in a statement issued on Friday.

Uwujaren said the endorsement was the outcome of an opinion poll conducted by UK-based Global Peace Movement International.

Transparency index

The poll came a week after Transparency International (TI) released its latest transparency index, he said.

According to him, Nigeria for the first time in over a decade, moved up in the global anti-corruption and transparency ranking.

He said that analysts had attributed the improvement to the efforts of the EFCC under Magu.

"According to the report by Transparency International, the corruption perception index ranked 176 countries on a scale of 0 (perceived to be corrupt) to 100 (perceived to be clean).

"In the report, Somalia was ranked the most corrupt country in the world for the tenth straight year," the spokesman said.

The poll

The President General of Global Peace Movement International, Dr Mike Uyi, said the poll was conducted to ascertain global opinion on the work of the EFCC.

According to the report of the survey, the U.S. topped the list of countries that endorsed the EFCC chairman with 92 per cent of its respondents for, and 7 percent against. Followed by the United Kingdom returned a 96 percent affirmative and France 85.

He added that the results of the survey on other elected or appointed public officials in Nigeria would soon be released to the public.