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From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Head, Interpol National Central Bureau in Nigeria, Chikwe Udensi, has called on President and Chairman, Governing Council of the Chartered Institute of Forensics and Certified Fraud Investigators of Nigeria (CIFCFIN), Dr. Iliyasu B. Gashinbaki, to inculcate Interpol Systems Studies in its training curriculum.
He made the call at the third direct membership graduation and fellowship awards ceremony of CIFCFIN, at the EFCC Academy in Abuja. The induction had 166 graduates, while 58 outstanding professionals bagged fellowship awards.
He congratulated the graduating students for passing a great milestone in the annals of Nigeria’s history and urged them to uphold the ethics and standards of forensics fraud and crime investigations, stressing that the world of crime has become a small village.
“If you are investigating a crime or a fraud in Enugu for example, you might be surprised to find out that the origin of that fraud is from California. It is no more the situation of what Tip O’Neill once said, that, ‘all politics is local.’ No, crime is not local! Every crime today is international. So, you must uphold the ethics and standards of forensics fraud and crime investigations,” Udensi said.
He stated that the international dynamism and sophistication of crime and fraud, today, made 195 countries of the world to come together and establish the Interpol Systems. Udensi revealed that the interpol systems has 19 databases, which comprise a base for wanted persons, stolen ideas, peadophile (child sexual-molesters), stolen arms and ammunition, stolen ships and cargoes, etc.
He disclosed that one of the most important data bases of the interpol systems is the forensics database, which he said must be of primary concern to all members of the institute.
He said: “You will realise that so many of the forensics, like the fingerprints we have in the interpol systems, especially in the crime desk around the world, have no names to them. Therefore, it is your duty, in the course of your forensic investigations, to ensure that you put a name to each of those fingerprints.
“What interpol has done is to make the world a small place as it concerns crime fighting. You can investigate a crime in Nicaragua from the comfort of your room in Abuja, with the use of interpol systems.”
Udensi expressed optimism about the likely impact of the institute on the fight against corruption in Nigeria.
“I am optimistic that if the momentum of the professional training of the institute goes further, what it simply means is that the fight against corruption in Nigeria will be a thing that will be amiable to everybody,” he noted.
Earlier, Gashinbaki admonished the new graduates to see themselves as change agents duly enlisted in the anti-corruption army that would transform Nigeria into greatness.
Special Guest of the ceremony, Prof. Roberts Ajayi Borofice, eulogised Gashinbaki for the resilience and doggedness he exhibited in the process of getting the institute registered and legalised as a chartered institute.
Borofice described the graduating members of the institute as the “beautiful ones who have been born into the anti-corruption arena.”
