TOPIC: THE PREVENTION OF FRAUD THROUGH ANTI-CORRUPTION

AGENCIES IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR ECONOMY

Introduction
Fraud can be described as a conscious pervert action of a person or group of persons with the
intention of altering the truth or fact for selfish and personal monetary gain. It involves the use of
deceit and trick and sometimes highly intelligent cunning and knows how. The action usually takes
the form of forgery, falsification of documents and forgery of signature and outright theft (Cyasi,
2019).
According to Collins (2015), in the past years efforts have been geared towards eradicating
and totally eliminating fraud and corruption in Nigeria but sadly little have been achieved in the fight
against corruption. These efforts led to the establishment of such bodies like the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and other Offences
Commission (ICPC) etc. These bodies are charged with the responsibility of arresting and
prosecution of individuals found misappropriating public funds. We can state clearly that the efforts
of these institutions in fighting fraud and corruption have yielded little result. It is important to state
that sometimes when individuals are found culpable of any offence because of their position in the
society such cases are swept under the carpet and they are allowed to get away with it or are given
lesser punishment compared to the offence committed. A good example is the petroleum subsidy saga
involving a former member of the Upper Chamber Senator Faruk Lawan and the CEO of Capital Oil
Femi Otedola. Yet another high ranking corrupt case was the one involving the former Speaker of the
House of Representatives Dimeji Bankole who was arrested by the EFCC for fraud and corruption
related case while he was the speaker of the House of Representatives. Sometimes issues of
corruption because of who is involved are decided based on technicalities and not on empirical
evidences.
Moreover, the public sector is supposed to be the driver of the economy which will propel
national development but corruption has destroyed the society hence limiting the efficacy of the
public sector’s contribution to the development of the country. Despite structural reforms in the
public sector aimed at combating the menace of corruption, it still prevails in Nigeria and has
hindered good governance and has also robbed the masses of the social welfare that is supposed to be
provided by government through its institutions (Kayode, Adagba and Anyio ,2017).
 Black (2015) describes fraudulent employees as super financial predators which seek to ruin
many of establishment. Hence the study examine fraud prevention through the use of anti-corruption
agencies in Nigeria using EFCC as an instrument used by the Nigerian government.

1.3 Objectives of the Study

The main objective of this study is to examine the prevention of fraud through anti-corruption

agencies in the public sector economy.

i. To identify factors that causes fraud in the public sector economy.

ii. To examine the effects of fraudulent activities in the public sector economy.

iii. To identify the role of EFCC in eliminating Fraudulent and corrupt activities in the public

sector.

iv. To identify the challenges faced by EFCC in eliminating fraud in the public sector

economy.
 QUESTIONNAIRE ADMINISTRATION

SECTION B

The Prevention of Fraud through Anti-Corruption Agencies

Instruction: Kindly answer the following by ticking (√) the most appropriate options to indicate your
level of agreement or disagreement. The meaning of the acronyms in the boxes and parts are as
follows:

Strongly Agreed (SA) – 5 points

Agreed (A) – 4 points

Undecided (U) – 3 points

Disagreed (D) – 2 points

Strongly Disagreed (SD) – 1 point

S/N VARIABLES SA A U D SD
1 Factors That Causes Fraud In The Public Sector
Economy
Lack of Government Concern

2 The Effects Of Fraudulent Activities In The Public

Sector Economy

3 The Role Of EFCC In Eliminating Fraudulent And

Corrupt Activities In The Public Sector

4 The Challenges Faced By Efcc In Eliminating Fraud In

The Public Sector Economy
Inadequate resources

5 Government measures to curb Fraud

6 Causes of Fraud among Youth in Nigeria

Low infrastructure and development

7 Consequences faced in Fighting Corrupt Practices

Conflict

8 Major Agencies to tackle Fraudulence activities

EFCC

9 Government Concerning in Eliminating Fraud

Provision of major tools

10 Fraud management level in public sector

Low