Corruption in Nigeria has become institutionalised in the political system, and the government of the day must come clean and lead the fight against the scourge in a bid to allow rational economic growth and development of the people.
To fight against corruption, the Federal Government has also been enjoined to let the anti-corruption agencies like the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the ICPC off the chain and allow them to prosecute those indicted by various audit reports which exposed years of corruption in upstream and downstream sectors in the oil and gas industry.
These calls were contained in a position paper titled ‘How Corrupt is Nigeria?’, which was written by a legal practitioner and author of ‘Corruption and Human Rights Law in Africa’, Mr. Kolawole Olaniyan.
Olaniyan, who is the Legal Adviser, International Secretariat of Amnesty International, London, United Kingdom, said, “How corrupt is the government of President Goodluck Jonathan? The answer may vary depending on who is interpreting the latest global corruption index from Transparency International (TI).
“According to Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) for 2014, Nigeria is up eight places to 136 out of 175 countries ranked by the index. The government has unsurprisingly interpreted this to mean that Nigeria is “winning the war on corruption under President Goodluck Jonathan’s watch.”
“The government’s response is nothing more than a standard public relations tactic. But this triumphal tone needs to be moderated; and the government’s real record in the fight against corruption has to be placed in proper perspective.
Olaniyan, who insisted that Nigerians only feel disgust at the increasing level of corruption among high-ranking government officials and impunity of perpetrators, also wondered why President Jonathan has not led by example in the fight against corruption by publishing the list of his assets.
Olaniyan, who insisted that Nigerians only feel disgust at the increasing level of corruption among high-ranking government officials and impunity of perpetrators, also wondered why President Jonathan has not led by example in the fight against corruption by publishing the list of his assets.
“This government has to come clean and be straight with the Nigerian people on its record in fighting corruption. But Nigerians are not fooled. They know pretty well that corruption is still a major problem in Nigerian politics, with various government agencies becoming deeper and deeper involved with the widespread use of political appointments even at the highest level of government.”
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