Worried by the complaints of recession in the country, acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mr Ibrahim Magu, has said that corruption is virtually the sole reason for the country’s current economic problem.

According to Ceoafrica, Magu said it was because of the central place of corruption in the present economic woes that the federal government was paying a lot of attention to the recovery of stolen funds.

“I maintain that the economic recession is caused by corruption. About 90 per cent of the cause of recession is corruption, because there was fund and people stole the funds and kept them where they cannot be reached”, the EFCC chairman said.

Magu added that if a sizable part of the funds looted from the public treasury in Nigeria were recovered, the country would be out of recession within a short period. “If we can lay hands on this hidden wealth, we won’t stay for more than three months in this recession. It is sufficient for us to get out of economic recession”, he stated.

Appealing to all those still holding or hiding looted money to voluntarily return them, Magu said, “I think they should just come out and approach the government and say, ‘this is what I have.’ Our emphasis now is on the recovery of the looted fund. People should come out and give us full disclosure, we would go after it”.

On the suggestions in some quarters about possible amnesty for those who heed the call for the return of fleeced public assets, Magu said, “I’m not sure of that. But we encourage recovery if you can voluntarily bring out this thing, disclose this thing.

“It is the government that would decide. We encourage people to come out and disclose the looted funds”.

He said, “they should cooperate with the government; they should come forward and declare what they have looted and the government will take its decision.

“Everybody must join in the fight against corruption. It’s very necessary for the future of this country, for a better tomorrow”.