EFCC TO REDUCE PRIVATE SOLICITORS

THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has stated its resolve to reduce the number of private lawyers on its payroll following the increase in the number of convictions, which were obtained, by in-house lawyers.
The spokesman of the commission, Wilson Uwujaren, made this announcement yesterday at a press conference in Abuja. The conference marked his maiden interaction as Head of Media and Publicity at EFCC.
He explained however that the commission is not dropping all private solicitors because some of them are senior advocates whose stature and experience are needed to match the weight of lawyers that certain defendants employ.
Uwujaren put the number of convictions in 2013 at 117 out of 533 cases filed in court, and noted the 99 per cent of the convictions were secured by lawyers from the legal and prosecution department of the EFCC.
Uwujaren expressed optimism that challenges faced with the judiciary would be over following the directive of the Chief Justice of Nigeria that courts should handle corruption cases expeditiously.
Source: Guardian