# Introduction he development of corruption in Nigeria dates back to the First Republic especially between 1963 and 1966 (Tignor, 1993). Various allegations of election fraud and corruption were said to have characterized the later part of the First Republic, which was evidently used as a justification by the military to intervene in the country's body politics and invariably led to the collapse of the Balewa administration in 1966 (Akinola, 2009). Despite the anti-corruption crusade of the military interventionists (1966)(1967)(1968)(1969)(1970)(1971)(1972)(1973)(1974)(1975)(1976)(1977)(1978)(1979), they were themselves caught in the web of corruption. The oil boom, arising from the sudden upsurge in the foreign revenue from the petroleum products exports fuelled the growth of corruption under the various military administrations. The impression of various successive military administrators then was that that the problem of Nigeria was not how to get money but how to spend it. The caustic implications of corruption on Nigeria's growth and development process have often motivated successive administrations in Nigeria to erect anti-graft programmes and institutions for crushing or at least weakening the existence of the occasions of corruption in the country. Although, measures of successes have been recorded, the cankerworm still thrives at the detriment of Nigeria's progress. Corruption still manages to survive as one of the greatest limiting the progress of the Nigerian State. The presence of this trend in nearly all aspects of the nation's socioeconomic existence is said to be one of the reasons why poverty level remains elevated irrespective of her position as the sixth largest producer of oil in the globe. Successive attempts by the Federal Government of Nigeria to control this societal menace led to the establishment of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt Practices & Related Offences Commission (ICPC) among other existing anti-graft agencies. Be that as it may, the current regime has seen a plethora of corruption petitions which have necessitated the Federal Government anti-corruption agencies to ferociously beam their searchlights on corruption starting with how the security money approved by the immediate past government for arms purchase, which was allegedly domiciled in the former National Security Adviser's Office (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki (Rtd.) was utilised. First, a probe panel was set up by the Federal Government and its report reveals that the sum of $2.1 billion was released by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to former National Security Adviser (NSA) to former President Goodluck Jonathan, Col. Dasuki (Rtd.) for arms purchase but the money was allegedly diverted, used and/or shared among PDP bigwigs and their cohorts as campaign money during the 2015 Presidential elections. Recently, and by extension too, the searchlight of anti-graft war was moved to the judiciary arm. In its wake, some judges, under a sting operation, carried out by men and officers of the DSS, have been arrested. They are currently standing trials before Federal High Courts on charges of corruption. This is consequent to public outcry that the judiciary is equally engrossed by corruption. The National Judicial Council (NJC) in response to this public outcry against the judiciary, swung into action by organizing a stakeholders' forum to deliberate on the vexed issue and the result of that meeting brought about a new "Code of Conduct for Judicial Officers" in Nigeria. For instance, one of the rules in the Code of Conduct for judicial officer says, "a judicial officer should avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety in all his activities." (www.unode.org). The NJC is the constitutional body charged with the sole responsibility of appointing, promoting and disciplining judges and justices of all courts established under the Constitution in Nigeria (Macauley and Michael, 2018). Beyond and within the foregoing premise, this paper makes a case for the assessment of the efforts of selected anti-graft agencies in combating corruption. Attempts will be made too in underscoring and appraising the litanies of economic discoveries made by these agencies overtime. Particular attention will be placed on the current regime of President Muhammadu Buhari. # II. # Problematization The Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) are all charged with the responsibility of investigating and the enforcement of laws against drug, economic and financial crime in all its ramifications. This intellectual piece is geared towards an appraisal of the roles of these agencies in combating corruption which, unarguably, pose imminent threat to the development and growth of the Nigerian society. No doubt most Nigerians will agree that corruption is on the increase in Nigeria and has kept the country to remain a third world nation characterized with all-round poor leadership and backwardness. By extension, therefore, a cursory look at the menace caused by corruption indicates that the practice in whatever forms it comes poses a serious threat to the Nigerian economy as the capital and finance needed to develop the economy are been amassed and stolen by the privileged few who are given political trust and mandate. More deadly too, is the fact that corruption has an immediate reflection on the standard of living of Nigerians as the gap between the rich and the poor widens by the day. Cases of increase in the poverty level of the people abound as a result of the increasing drift in embezzlement and mismanagement of public funds. Given the above, it is pertinent to unravel in the most pragmatic way the implications that corruption has on the Nigerian polity and bring to bear the role antigraft agencies play in curbing the menace with specific reference to the fourth republic. The paper will in turn access the trends of recovered funds and the challenges bedeviling anti-corruption wars in the period of 2015-2019. # III. # Conceptualizing Corruption According to Oxford Dictionary corruption is a dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power, typically involving bribery (Collins et al, 2009). Also, the word corruption according to investopedia, is a dishonest behavior by those in position of power such as managers or government official (Investopedia, 2015). They include corruption to be giving or accepting of bribes or inappropriate gifts, double dealing, underthe table transactions, manipulating elections, diverting funds, laundering money and defrauding investors. The vision 2010 committee defines corruption as "all those improper actions or transitions aimed at changing the normal course of events, judgment and position of trust" (Vision 2010 Report). The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) Act, 2000, defines corrupt act to include "bribery, fraud and other related offences" (ICPC, 2000). Transparency international defines corruption as the abuse of entrusted power for private gains. Corruption is the misuse of entrusted power (in heritage, education, marriage, election, appointment or whatever else) for private gain. This broader definition covers not only the politician and the public servant, but also the CEO of company, the notary public, the team leader at work place, the administrator or admissionofficer to a private school or hospital etc. A much more scientific definition for the concept "corruption" was developed by Professor (emeritus) Dr Petrus Van Duyne: corruption is an improbity or decay in the decision making process in which a decision maker consents to deviate or demands, deviation from criterion which should rule his or her decision making in exchange for a reward or for the promise or expectation of a reward, while these motives influencing his or her decision making cannot be part of the justification of the decision (Duyne, 1998). There is reasonable high degree of consensus among most of the writers on the meaning of corruption. Although, for the purpose of this research work corruption can be said to mean the act of asking, giving or taking a gift or favour in exchange for the performance of illegitimate task; boarding collusive, inflation of price, election rigging, illegal arrest for harassment or intimidation purposes, abused, misused, non-used of office position or power, dumping of obsolete machinery or outdated drugs, illegal foreign exchange transactions; legal but unobvious unfair and unjust acquisition of wealth, gilded crimes, certificate forgery, false accounting and claims, diversion of public, cooperate or other persons money or properties to direct or indicate personal use etc (Odekunle, 1982). Corruption is defined by the ICPC Act 2000 as including bribe, fraud, and other related offences. On the other hand, gratification is used as similar to corruption by Anti-Corruption Law (2000) as money, donation, gift, loan fee, reward, valuable, security, property or interest in property of any description whether movable or immovable or any other similar advantage given on promise to any person with intention to influence such as a person in the performance or non-performance of his duties. Manser (1989) sees corruption as "the net of people trying to get what they do not deserve by using money, religion and power". Corruption simply means the pervasion of integrity or state of affair through bribery, favour, moral depravity. This implies an original state or expectation of individual and societal purity Volume XX Issue V Version I 32 ( C ) where at least two parties have interacted to change the structure or process of society, or the behaviour of the functionaries in other to produce dishonest, unfaithful or defiled situations. Corruption involves the injection of additional but improper transaction aimed at changing the normal course of events and altering judgment and position of trust. It consists in the doers and receivers use of informal extra legal or illegal acts to facilitate matters. It is in this sense that one sees corruption as lubrication of the social system, a means by which to overcome economic obstacles and bureaucratic redtapism. According to Usman (2006) corruption means much more than public offices taking bribes and gratification; committing fraud and stealing funds and assets entrusted to their care. Corruption means the deliberate violations, for gainful ends, of standard of conduct legally, professionally or even ethnically established in private and public affair. These gains may be in cash or kind, or it may even be psychological, or political, but they are made from the violation of the integrity of an entity and involve the subversion of its quality and capacity (Usman, 1989). Corruption also means the pervasion of public office for private advantage. Corruption is one of the social evils found in all the societies of the world. In some societies it is more rampant than some others. Unfortunately, Nigeria from its inception has continued to battle from this evil called corruption. Corruption is one of the factors that have contributed to the backward nature of our country. Corruption in various forms has become mainstay of our national polity both in the recent past and present. It is needless to say that the evil of corruption meaning bribery and graft is not conducive to social stability and equilibrium. It invariably involves negative or betrayed of normative values of society, which are essential for the smooth functioning of society. Higgins (1999) has enlightened list of some of the practice rightly accepted as the features of corruption; corruption is stealing of public funds, receiving bribes for acting unjustly, seeking gifts, money or advantages other than the lawful salaries for performance as the public duties. The term corruption is a common phenomenon found not relief only in the Third world or developing countries, but also in advanced societies in Europe and North America despite their structural and cultural differences. Though the ubiquity of corruption is well acknowledged, its magnitude and character are defined by different social and cultural contexts and time dimensions (Otite, 1986). Corruption involves the injection of additional but improper transactions aimed at changing the normal course of events and altering judgments and positions of trust. It consists in the doers' and receivers' use of informal, extra-legal or illegal acts to facilitate matters. The concept can also be described as the wanton craze for illegal, unethical and often criminal acquisition of wealth or benefits by individuals whose main motive is ego bossing and self-aggrandizement with its attendant negative consequences on the rest of the society. Put differently, corruption is a general concept describing any organized, interdependent system in which part of the system is either not performing duty it was originally intended to, or performing them in an improper way, to the detriment of the system's original purpose (Aiyegbayo and Otite, 1986). As it were, there are myriad forms of corruption and these include: political corruption, bureaucratic corruption (misappropriation of public funds), money laundering (such as looted funds and wealth kept secretly abroad), gratification (which involves monetary, pecuniary, material or physical favors as a condition or reward for performing official duty), and nepotism which confers undeserved favors and advantages without receiving or giving gratification except that of primordial identity. Of all these, political corruption is rated higher in the Nigerian society. This is because it induces other forms of corruption. Political corruption in broad terms is the misuse by government officials of their governmental powers for illegitimate, usually secret, private enrichment. To say the least, all forms of government are susceptible to political corruption -bribery, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, patronage, graft and embezzlement (Onimode, 2001). # IV. Common Forms of Corruption in Nigeria Within the Nigerian State, the trends of corruption have manifested in various dimensions. They range from, bribery, fraud, misappropriation, extortions to stealing amongst others. They are explained below: # a) Bribery Bribery is probably the most rampant and visible form of corruption in Nigeria. Bribery refers to the offering and receiving of money of other benefit for a reward, favour or to influence a decision and can be defined as 'the corrupt payment, receipt, or solicitation of a private favour for official action (Black Law Dictionary, 2009). Bribery can be initiated by the person who solicits for a bribe or the person who offers and then pays a bribe (UNODC, 2004). A bribe may be any money, good, right in action, property, preferment, privilege, emolument, object of value, advantage, or merely a promise or undertaking to induce or influence the action, vote, or influence of a person in an official or public capacity. Bribery is also defined or explained in many international, regional and local instruments (OECD, 2004). Bribery may also involve corporate bodies or other juristic personalities as was the case in the recent Halliburton bribery Scandal. # b) Abuse of Office Where an individual vested with powers or authority to do acts on behalf of the government Volume XX Issue V Version I decides to use those powers for personal or third party gain, abuse of discretion is complete. Abuse of discretion may also be in the form of exercise of discretion to purchase goods and services in a company in which he or she (person in authority) has personal interest. This may also amount to an abuse of office (See George v. FRN [2011] 10 NWLR (Pt. 1254) 1). It will also amount to an abuse of discretion to propose a real estate development that may increase the value of an official's personal property. This form of abuse is usually common among government officials who often wield broad powers without proper checks or accountability mechanisms to curtail the abuse of such powers. # c) Stealing Basically, stealing is defined as the fraudulent possession by a person or conversion of anything capable of being stolen to his/her own personal use. Although a former Nigerian President (Goodluck Jonathan) considered stealing to be far from corruption, it is a manifestation of corruption that is rampant in Nigeria; it is evidenced by the conviction of former top Nigerian government officials for the offence of stealing even in foreign countries. Funds ordinarily meant for the provision and defraying of cost of public services like healthcare and education provisioning have been persistently stolen and converted by top government officials and used to fund lavish lifestyles. # d) Fraud Fraud which simply means 'dishonesty' may consist of the use of false or misleading information or advise to deprive government or members of the public of property under the guise of improving efficiency, service delivery or through 'privatization'. It is believed in Nigeria, that most privatised institutions of government are now worse than they were before privatisation.38 A very sad story also emerges when a look is taken into the history of fraud in public procurement in Nigeria (UNODC, 2013). Some former public officials have also been convicted for fraud involving inflation of contracts in Nigeria (See George v. FRN [2011] 10 NWLR (Pt. 1254) 1). This type of corruption affects the interests of the public because often more than not, the public is deprived of benefits that may have accrued if funds and discretion were judiciously utilized in the performance of public duties. # e) Misappropriation Misappropriation is the intentional, illegal use of the property or funds of another person for one's own use or other unauthorized purpose, particularly by a public official, a trustee of a trust, an executor or administrator of a dead person's estate, or by any person with a responsibility to care for and protect another's assets (a fiduciary duty) (legal-dictionary.the freedictionary.com). The incidence of misappropriation is very high in Nigeria and numerous instances abound including the misappropriation of newly printed and unnumbered bank notes, (Leadership, 2012) and pension funds (Vanguardngr.com, 2013). # f) Extortion In no other aspect of national life does extortion manifest more than it does in the policing aspect of public service. This aspect of corruption will, therefore, be discussed with exclusive reference to the Nigeria Police. Policing in Nigeria is characterized by pervasive corruption, such as diverting police resources for personal protection or enrichment in a variety of policefor-hire arrangements; harassment and intimidation of victims; and the destruction of evidence, including the bodies of victims of extrajudicial executions. Officers routinely practice extortion on members of the public at roadblocks and on public highways. Corruption and extortion are perhaps the defining characteristics associated with the Nigerian Police. For a majority of police officers, the police uniform is a tool for generating income. They make money by extorting law-abiding citizens, claiming that it is the price people must pay to keep the police from gratuitously interfering with their livelihoods. Police have also been accused of erecting illegal road blocks in order to extort money from the citizenry. This has resulted in the loss of public confidence in the integrity of police personnel. Most police officers readily cite their poor pay as the principal reason for extortion. Some even claim that in the absence of basic provisions for policing, the police use proceeds from extortion to fulfill operational needs, such as stationery for recording statements from suspects, gasoline for patrol vehicles, batteries for mobile phone units, and similar day-to-day needs. V. # Anti-Corruption Campaigns and Economic Recoveries Some level of achievements has been recorded by the current regime in the fight against corruption. The introduction of the Treasury Single Account and the Whistle Blowing Policy are twin successes that have aided the prevention and prosecution of corrupt officials. In the opinion of Macaulay & Michael (2018) the arsenals deployed in combating corruption in recent times could be grouped into two to wit: "preventive but non-legislated policies" and "preventive-prosecutory but legislated policies." The preventive but non-legislated polices include the following: i. Treasury Single Account (TSA): This is a public accounting system using a single account or a set of linked accounts by government to ensure all revenue receipts and payments are done through a Consolidated Revenue Account (CRA) at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The pilot TSA scheme commenced in 2012 using a unified Volume XX Issue V Version I # ( C ) structure of accounting for 217 Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) for accountability and transparency in public fund management (Udo, 2017). This policy has been adopted from the previous government. The policy has helped the present government to curb hitherto excesses in government income and expenditure in the MDAs. ii. Whistle Blowing Policy: This is a policy recently announced by the Federal Government of Nigeria that any person who reports an incident of corruption in his or her organization in Nigeria to the appropriate anti-corruption body through dedicated channel of information, would be rewarded with 5% of the recovered fund, if any. This policy is in line with the provision of the UNCAC (Tukur, 2017). The policy has achieved a level of success although it is not backed up by law. However, the policy in recent times has suffered abuse due to administrative redtapism and counter-claim by whistle blowers themselves as well as the questionable involvement of officials of the agencies in anti-graft cases. Beyond the above, the EFCC, DSS, ICPC, CCB, CCT amongst others have put up usual anti-corruption fight from 29th May, 2015, when Muhammadu Buhari was sworn into office as President -with a promise to fight corruption with all his might and power. This underscores the importance of good leadership and transparency as epitomized in the personality of President Muhammadu Buhari (Macualey & Michael, 2018). Much as the efforts appear plausible, a dispassionate look at the list of anti-corruption war casualties so far shows names of renowned party bigwigs of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members, which party used to be at the centre but which is now a major dominant opposition party in Nigeria. A few other casualties are the faithful and/or dissent members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) which party is now the governing party at the national level and in control of 24 States in Nigeria presently. Normally, anti-corruption agencies should act on petitions from aggrieved persons -Nigerians and non-Nigerians alike, about incidents of corruption, economic and financial crimes, which occurred and/or might have occurred in the public and private offices. Understandably, the PDP members constitute the greater number of casualties. This is justifiably so because their party was in power at the centre and in 28 States from 1999 up and till May 29, 2015. Therefore, it would have been expected that the majority of the PDP members might have one way or the other soiled their hands in corrupt practices with impunity (saharareporters.com). Importantly too, it has been reported that from the inception of the EFCC in 2003 till 2016, the Commission secured about 1,500 convictions (Ebhuomhan, 2017). Probably, the Commission secured the highest convictions in 2016 (Jones, 2018). In terms of prosecutions, the Commission since its creation has prosecuted so many high profile corruption related cases before different courts across the country. Regrettably, the Commission seems to have lost the majority of its cases in courts due largely to lack of painstaking investigations, lack of equipment, lack of adequate and requisite trained personnel, lack of strategic preparation and prosecutions (Dania, 2017). Also, the quest to satisfy the thirst of Nigerians for convictions in the face of poor pay to judges invariably makes the judges to fall victims of sumptuous offers by corrupt public and private officials, in the system, with attendant sell out of judgments (Akinselure, 2017 andAgbakoba, 2017). In terms of both assets and recovered funds at interim and final forfeiture orders of courts, the Commission has recently made a detailed breakdown of its recoveries in both assets and moneys in different currencies as at 2010 (thenationonlineng.net/ breakdown). The Commission, however, said through its Chairman that between May 2015 and October 20, 2017, it recovered the sum of N738.9 billion or $29 billion (https://www.vanguard.com/efcc-sa). # VI. The Challenges and Setbacks of Anti-Graft Wars The current war on graft has witnessed scores of indictments which constitute real obstacles to desire for a corrupt-free Nigerian State. This part of the works lends voice to these setbacks as follows: # a) Functional Duplication of Responsibilities Again, the ICPC and DSS traditionally should have different roles to play in anti-corruption fight in Nigeria as it is the case the world over. The core mandate of the ICPC in corruption architecture is to prevent corruption in public and private establishments, in order to nip in the bud corruption related tendencies and the DSS is to prevent and protect the Nigerian Corporate existence against violence crimes and maintain internal security. # b) Inter-agency Rivalry It has also been observed the dearth of synergy and palpable conflict of interest between the anti-graft agencies in the country. For example, the EFCC was recently stopped by the DSS from effecting arrest on the former DSS and NIA bosses over allegation of corruption. Yet, when the Presidency was constrained to wade into the face-off between these agencies, that became the end of the case. Surprisingly, the presidency was reported to have admonished these agencies to go and work in a synergy. Volume XX Issue V Version I # ( C ) c) Incumbency Factor In a similar circumstance, there have been graft allegations leveled against some cabinet members of President Buhari particularly from Governors of the PDP controlled States. For example, the reports of administrative panels set up by PDP controlled states of Rivers and Ekiti States respectively, to probe former governors of these States -who are now serving ministers in the cabinet, indicted such former governors. Unfortunately, so far, no reasonable actions have been taken to cause the graft bodies to prosecute such persons or the Attorney General of the Federation and/or Civil Society Organisation (CSO) through writ of mandamus to do same. # d) Non-Criminalization of Sectionalism Equally, the federal civil service has been inundated with allegations of recruitments racketeering and of related lopsided appointments in the paramilitary services relating to strategic official positions in favour of a section of the country. As noted earlier, corruption is not only committed with monetary gains in view. It also now involves acts of nepotism and favouritism especially to the disadvantage of others, who are citizens of the same country. Recently, the Federal Ministry of Education carried out admissions into the Federal Unity Schools in Nigeria. Such admissions with discriminatory cut-off points appear to promote national favour to a section of the country that has been described as educationally disadvantaged zones (Onyekayah, 2018). This act without saying more is unconstitutional and contemptuous. The resultant effect therefore is that the quality of human capacity to be harvested from such adulterated admissions process would have a future catastrophic effect on governance and the management of physical capital in Nigeria. # e) Misappropriation of Recovered Loot Recent examples have shown that it is either the EFCC lacks capacity to secure recovered and looted State properties or they are deliberately giving in to sharp practices themselves. For instance, the report that the EFCC gave a building in Abuja recovered from the late ex-Chief of Air Staff, Alex Badeh to the Voice of Nigeria (VON) betrays the loose ends in the nation's anticorruption policy. This instance has particularly exposed the challenge of managing proceeds of crimes in Nigeria. This challenge remains because there is no Act of National Assembly spelling out, in comprehensive manner, what should be done with recovered properties. The questions many Nigerians are asking are: does the EFCC have the power to deal with proceeds of crimes as it deems fit? Is there a comprehensive register of legally forfeited assets in the EFCC's care? If they have that inventory, it should be made public. You can't fight corruption with lack of accountability (THISDAY, 2019) . Also, if such assets are to be disposed of, should it not be by a transparent process in which members of the public, corporate bodies and government departments submit verifiable bids? # f) Lack of Accountability There are serious issues of transparency and accountability in this matter that cannot be glossed over. At present, all crime-fighting agencies in the country (NDLEA, NAPTIP, EFCC, ICPC, to mention just a few) have different provisions for dealing with recovered properties. None has a comprehensive arrangement. This lacuna is being exploited by these agencies to rip off the country. In the past, properties recovered from looters had ended up in the hands of private citizens in controversial circumstances (THISDAY, 2019). For instance, drugs seized by the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) had disappeared from the agency's custody. This is due to the opaque system under which proceeds of crimes are dealt with. # g) Deliberate Non-Profiling of Crime Proceed Several times we have been told that many people had voluntarily returned stolen assets. But nobody knows how much had been recovered and from whom. This, in turn, has made the anti-corruption war of President Muhammadu Buhari a hard sell. So far, none of the anti-corruption agencies has been able to give a clear figure of how much it has recovered. This does not help the anticorruption war. This scenario has made it imperative for the Proceeds of Crime Bill to be passed into law. However, pending the time the bill will become an act of the National Assembly the federal government will do itself a lot of good by embracing transparency in the handling of crimes' proceeds. # h) Selective Anti-Graft War Also, in a report titled "Heavy Knocks For Buhari's Anti-Corruption" published by Sahara Reporters on 31 October 2015, Debo Adeniran, the Executive Chairman of the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders claimed he had on several occasion, petitioned the president and the anti-graft agencies, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and Independent Corrupt Practices Commission levying corruption and misappropriation of fund against Babatunde Fashola, a former governor of Lagos State and the incumbent Minister for Power, Works and Housing in the Cabinet of President Muhammadu Buhari. He also mentioned that several allegation of corruption and misappropriation of fund were slammed on Kayode Fayemi, the former governor of Ekiti State, Kemi Adeosun, the incumbent minister of finance, Rotimi Amaechi, a former governor of Rivers State and current minister of transport. He expressed concern on why these people had not been invited by the anti-graft agencies for questioning. He said "We are dissatisfied with the way the anti-corruption war is being fought and we are afraid that we may not achieve anything better than what we had before Buhari assumed office" (Punch, 2016). Volume XX Issue V Version I 36 ( C ) # VII. Conclusion and Recommendations Beyond the above stumbling blocks, it is imperative to commend the anti-graft agencies such as the EFCC, ICPC, CCB amongst others. The EFCC in particular, has performed exceptionally well in spite of its apparent unrestrained operational scope, limited resources and paucity of human and physical capitals. Nonetheless, the body can still do more especially so with the enactment of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA, 2015) and laws adopted there-from by different States in Nigeria. With the current ACJA reforms, the Act has unambiguous provisions with which to enable the EFCC to carry out its investigation and due prosecution of cases to reduce the rising number of cases it has been losing on a continuous basis. In line with the suggestion of Macauley & Michael, (2018), Section 80 of the constitution should be amended to limit the powers and control of the Federal Government over public funds in federally related civil and criminal matters; and the exercise of executive powers of the federation as contained in section 5(1) (a -b) of the Constitution. This, for example, means that the federal agencies alone would collect and pay all revenues into an account that may be called "Federal Revenue Fund", which should repeal and replace the existing "Consolidated Revenue Fund" of the federation." Equally, at the State Government level, each State should establish an equivalent of the Federal Revenue Fund to be known and called the "State Revenue Fund" into which similar revenue shall be paid for the use of a State Government. In this case, the Federal and State Governments shall exercise control over the affairs of their respective agencies as it relates to the way and manner such agencies perform their statutory duties. Finally, when the centre becomes too attractive because of over-centralisation of powers, functions and funds distribution, the components States become weak, poor, inefficient and powerless towards law enforcement and socio-economic development. The end result of such weak inter-governmental relations engenders corruption and inefficiency. Therefore, devolution of powers in Nigeria will reduce the embers of ethnicity, nepotism, clannishness, corruption and the current idea whereby the State Governors go to Abuja on monthly basis to collect bail out money or statutory allocations. Besides, fiscal federalism will make the leaders closer to the citizens and residents and be accountable to them better than it is presently. © 2020 Global JournalsThe Politics of Anti-Graft Wars and Economic Recovery Regime in Nigeria's Fourth Republic Year 2020 © 2020 Global JournalsThe Politics of Anti-Graft Wars and Economic Recovery Regime in Nigeria's Fourth Republic * Why EFCC keeps losing corruption cases. 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