Ibrahim Magu has said he strongly believes corruption is the cause of the deadly coronavirus. The acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said this at the passing out parade of 281 cadets of the EFCC Detective Inspector Course-5, at the Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna, on Tuesday, February 18.
While speaking about the side effects of corruption, Magu said the social vice is worse than any known disease, and he is convinced it is the cause of coronavirus.
He said: “The EFCC is not satisfied with just prosecuting and jailing the fraudsters, rather the commission has concluded plans to reform them in collaboration with relevant government agencies towards making them better citizens.
“EFCC has zero tolerance for corruption as our mandate is to kill corruption as corruption is worse than all the diseases we have now and I strongly believe coronavirus is caused by corruption.
“Corruption is a huge burden to our nation it has spread to insecurity, poverty, unemployment, falling standard of education, weak access to affordable health care, falling infrastructure and so many others.
”
Coronavirus broke out in Wuhan in Hubei province of China in December and has claimed nearly 2, 000 lives according to reports. The virus first popped up in people who had visited a local seafood and animal market in Wuhan (called the Huanan seafood market). Officials have said it likely hopped from an animal to humans.