Former Commissioner for Special Duties and Regional Integration in Osun State, Ajibola Basiru, has called on President Mohammadu Buhari to introduce mechanisms that would prevent corruption rather than focusing on prosecution of corrupt individuals.
Speaking with journalists in Osogbo, the state capital, Basiru also urged the President to make all Nigerians key into his plan to wage war against the menace.
He said: “The focus of the new administration should be on how we can prevent corruption and what ways to achieve this. We need to strengthen our public finance management laws and institutions.
“Our public procurement system must be strengthened and need to be efficient in order to be sure that government contracts are awarded in a transparent and on equal opportunity to everybody. We need to look closely at the financial regulations and see that the cumbersomeness in its implementation is reduced. We should digitalise public finance. If we digitalise it, there would be free access to information.
“We also need to address the imbalance between capital expenditure and recurrent expenditure. The law enforcement mechanism itself needs to be strengthened in order to stem the scourge of corruption.”
Basiru berated the immediate past administration at the centre for failing to find a lasting solution to the perennial crisis in the petroleum sector.
According to him, it was irresponsible for the Jonathan administration to give billions of dollars to the petroleum marketers as subsidy without coming up with a long term solution to the problems in the oil sector.
As Muhammadu Buhari takes office as President today, unemployment, insecurity, epileptic power supply, corruption, among others, are challenges he must tackle with dispatch, writes Assistant Editor LEKE SALAUDEEN
Over the years, leadership has been identified as the bane of national development. Policies are unstable and short- term. Although it has often been said that a problem identified and diagnosed is half-solved, the Nigerian leadership challenge has defied this reasoning. The fundamental challenge has been narrowed down to ill-prepared leadership, wrong recruitment process and lack of vision.
Funds appropriated for welfare and security of the people as well as provision of infrastructure are diverted to private accounts. Jobs done are shoddy as the contractors understand the language of the leaders. The education sector remains comatose; hospitals designated centres of excellence have become glorified consulting clinics; power supply continues to haunt big and small businesses; the roads are in poor state and infrastructure for economic progress remains a source of national embarrassment, performing below regional standards. No sector stands out.
To say that Nigeria is at the cross roads is an understatement, especially against the backdrop of the collective experience in almost all spheres of its national life. The task before Muhammadu Buhari, who takes over from Dr Goodluck Jonathan today, is enormous. Top among the tasks that must be done are turning the tides against insecurity, defeating corruption and banishing unemployment, among others.
Insecurity
The current state of insecurity is a manifestation of deep-rooted and structurally entrenched crisis of development that creates the environment for the emergence of poverty, unemployment, and inequality. These, in turn, lead to frustration, alienation, and ultimately, social discontent that spark violence and insecurity. Without the enabling environment, these conditions could not have metamorphosed into serious national security problems threatening to tear the country apart. The Boko Haram insurgency has not only claimed thousands of lives, it has also seen daring terrorists hang their flag in parts of the country, especially in the northeast.
Buhari made security a driving issue in his presidential campaign. He promised to put an end to Boko Haram insurgency if elected. He said the primary responsibility of a responsible government is to protect the lives and properties of every Nigerian wherever they choose to live. There are also problems of kidnappings and robbery attacks which have assumed dangerous dimension.
Relevant to this appalling picture is the issue of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). A report of the Internal Displaced Monitoring Centre and the Norwegian Refugee Council indicate that of 33 million internal refugees across the world, about 3.3 million Nigerians are internally displaced because of the Boko Haram insurgency in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states. The number of dislodged victims of the six year old violent campaign by the terrorists in the affected areas is not only thought- provoking but also a cause for concern because it suggests that the scale of the problem may not have been fully captured and may indeed be beyond the range of the available figures.
The challenges faced by displaced persons call for serious commitment. The Buhari presidency should help the internally displaced by perfecting relief structures.
A security expert said the president should acknowledge the failure of the security agencies hence there should be a complete overhaul of the security agencies to pre-empt security breaches –– particularly, the failure of the intelligence services to contain the recurring security breaches.
According to him, “Mr President, on assumption of office, has to act decisively to execute his office, and this can be achieved by implementing the anti-terrorism law and punish culprits of such heinous crimes capable of causing instability in the nation. The trends leading to this situation are reversible, if seriously proactive and sustained measures could be adopted by the government and the international community. The implication of this is that policy makers have the duty to arrest the drift through social justice and development. To address security problem in Nigeria is in effect, to address its crisis of development”.
Unemployment
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has described the menace of chronic youth unemployment in Nigeria as a time bomb. The interpretation is that when the problem assumes an uncontrollable dimension, it will explode, with deleterious effects on the society. It stands to reason that there is a correlation between the youth unemployment in the land and the reserve army of idle and ignorant hands that a sect like Boko Haram is able to recruit for its heinous crimes. Similarly, the ever increasing wave of armed robberies, kidnappings, mindless assassinations and other crimes perpetrated mostly by youths across the country can be linked to the spectre of mass unemployment.
The magnitude of the unemployment in the country will be better appreciated by making reference to the statement of the former Chairman of the Subsidy Re-investment Programme (SURE-P) Dr Christopher Kolade when he noted that 40 million Nigerians, that is 23.9 per cent of the population are unemployed as a result of the inability of the system to absorb the approximately 300,000 graduates churned out of tertiary institutions annually. This figure may not necessarily include the chronically underemployed such as casual workers, or those who are employed seasonally.
The problem of unemployment is mounting daily. The manufacturing sector which used to be the major employer of labour is in a coma. Many manufacturing companies have closed shop in Nigeria and relocated to neighbouring West African countries or South Africa that provide enabling environment for business to thrive. The banks are downsizing at a ridiculous rate while access to loan has become an official publicity stunt. More devastating is the fact that the government has failed to provide stable power supply and security that are central to industrialisation and by extension employment generation and general development of the country.
Recently, an industrialist entered into agreement with a Romanian firm to come and set up an agro-allied industry which will in its first year employ 1,000 workers. The investors came to Nigeria to formalise the agreement and process other requirements for the take-off of the project. The hotel where they lodged was on generator 24 hours daily which raised their suspicion over the state of power supply in the country. The second day of their visit, they were robbed on their way back to the hotel. The following morning they left for the airport and left the country without parting words to their Nigerian business partner. That was the end of the business transaction. The fact is, no genuine foreign investor would come and invest in a country where security of lives and property is lacking and where power supply is not stable.
Agriculture stands out as a major solution to Nigerian unemployment if properly developed. The reason why many Nigerians run away from agriculture is because of the use of hoes and other primitive equipment which they consider stressful to them. With introduction of machines into agriculture, Nigerians will embrace it. Improved system of farming and poultry will propel many to pick farming as means of employment. The Buhari administration should organise seminars where citizens will be taught on new improved system of making living from agriculture.
Government should support Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to boost employment in the country. Private establishments contribute largely to the growth of manufacturing companies in the country. According to Nigerian Bureau of Statistics, SMEs manufacture more than 90 per cent of the products used in Nigeria. Government should provide more funds to SMEs so that they can expand their operations and create more jobs for Nigerians.
Economy
To say that the economy is dire strait is to state the obvious. The impression is that Nigeria is broke. Both federal and state governments are cash strapped that they cannot pay workers’ salaries. In fact, the Jonathan Federal Government had to take loan to pay April salaries. This suggests that the nation is broke. It is a manifestation of economic mismanagement.
To revive the economy, a renowned economist Mr Henry Boyo said there is urgent need for a fundamental restructuring of the country’s monetary framework so that the economy can be rapidly transformed to induce vast expansion in industrial activity with single digit lending rates, increase employment opportunities, lower single digit of inflation and a market determined exchange rate mechanism. He noted that the government’s efforts to achieve these parameters, reduce poverty and enhance the social welfare of the people in the last 30 years have evidently failed woefully.
“Indeed our economy appears trapped in a paradox of deepening poverty with increasing export revenue. It is inexplicable, for example that Nigeria became listed amongst the poorest nation in the world. A careful analysis of the process of infusion of our export earnings into the economy will show that this anomaly was made inevitable by the Central Bank’s practice of capturing export dollar revenue and substituting naira at its unilaterally determined rate of exchange before payment of consolidated naira allocations to the three tiers of government”.
Another economist, Dr Joseph Edebiri, blamed Jonathan for failing to put in place a robust fiscal policy that could align with the monetary policy. He said this would have brought down inflation rate from the present 15 per cent, reduce lending rate to single digit to stimulate the productive sector, open up the mining sector to international investors, promote private local petroleum refining and railways with extra-ordinary incentives, halt the massive borrowing that and has taken the external debt to $60 billion.
He said: “Jonathan failed to prosecute oil subsidy thieves and their official collaborators, to clean up the corrupt Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), to reduce his large army of unproductive advisers and assistants and also to reshuffle and reduce his incompetent cabinet. He dismissed the claims of Jonathan economic advisers especially, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala that the economy was growing at seven per cent. The statistics being bandied by government officials contrasted with the reality on ground. The economy she claimed was growing has not impacted on the standard of living. The inflation in the country is one of the highest in the world. The manufacturing sector is almost dead as industrialists close shop daily because of high cost of production, he said.
“We don’t know how much we are earning from oil export. The government seemed to have legitimised oil thievery. It also appears that Jonathan has accepted that oil theft is a part of the Nigerian reality because his government has done nothing to bring the culprits to book,” he added.
Corruption
To observers, the anti-corruption war of the Jonathan administration was not just dead; its remains have been interred. It failed to tackle corruption. The high profile corruption cases, including Malabo oil deal, Halliburton contract scam, the $20 billion fraud in the NNPC, the N1 trillion debt owed the NITEL for the use of its facilities by GSM operators at the inception, the purchase of over- priced bullet –proof by former Aviation Minister, Stella Oduah. The dust raised by the Pension Fund scam, Otedola-Farouk saga and other related cases are still fresh in the minds of the people.
Jonathan’s posture against the monster called ‘corruption’, which appears to be the root cause of many of the country’s woes, was not impressive. The government did too little in arresting or punishing corrupt officials and individuals. One of the perceived weaknesses that cast the Jonathan administration in bad light is the less than forceful presidential presence and ineffective deployment and application of presidential power in calling people around him to order. His actions suggested that he accommodated mediocre elements within his inner circle and that he lacked the will to show them the door.
The Jonathan administration carried on as though it was unaware that corruption is an impediment that stunts the growth of nations. No nation has ever developed or made any meaningful progress without tackling corruption head-long. Indeed, Jonathan had a poor public image due to his failure to wage a spirited war against corruption, leakages in the oil industry, including pipeline vandalism.
Buhari is not new in fighting corruption. In 1983, when he came to power as military Head of State, he succeeded in halting Nigeria from drifting and restored her glory within a short period. The corrupt politicians that looted the treasury were brought to book and vomited what they illegally swallowed. Nigerians are keeping faith with his promise to stamp out corruption that has given the country a bad name in the comity of nations.
For him to succeed in his anti-corruption war, the Buhari administration must consider strengthening the criminal justice system in the country and appoint people of integrity to head the anti-graft agencies. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) and Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) and its tribunal should be independent of the Presidency in terms of appointments and financing. The focus of the Buhari Presidency should be on prevention, detection and prosecution of corrupt persons which are fundamental to ending corruption.
Power Supply
The quantum of power consumed in a country by the citizens is considered a good indicator of the country’s socio-economic performance. Epileptic power supply is the greatest paradox of life in Nigeria, a country blessed with various sources of energy, including crude oil, natural gas, hydro power, coal and solar energy. The blackout is unprecedented. Business enterprises rely on generator 24 hours daily to power their machines. Those that cannot afford extra budget for diesel have closed shop and lay off their workers.
Energy crisis in Nigeria has become a norm for several decades and is the bane of her economic development. There is an extreme electricity deficiency in Nigeria. The causes of this deficiency are related to financial, socio-political, and structural issues which lead the power sector in Nigeria to be recording high energy losses from power generation and billing which lead to insufficient cash generation as a result of these inefficiencies. Only about 40 per cent of households in Nigeria are connected to the national grid. There is highly-energy loss due to the physical deterioration of the transmission and distribution facilities, an inadequate metering system and an increase in the incidence of power theft through illegal connections.
The crux of the matter includes inadequate generation, inefficient transmission and distribution of power. Nigeria’s installed power generation capacity of 6,000 mega watts is grossly inadequate to cater for the needs of over 140 million people. The country generates less than 3,000 mw.
Government officials have always blamed the problem of power outages to inadequate gas supply to thermal power plants and low level of water in the dams. A lecturer in the Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Lagos (UNILAG), Professor Frank Okafor said “the fact is a number of power stations are old. Look at Kainji dam built in 1968, if you just change a rotor and say it will give you 2’000 mw it’s a lie. An old machine remains old no matter the amount of rehabilitation or renovation. The old machines can never meet our target.
“If a developing country like Brazil can generate 100,000 mw, why not Nigeria priding itself as giant of Africa? Already South Africa is in Congo to build plant which they intend to transmit through High Voltage Distributive Transmission. Nigeria lacks the capacity for implementing long-term development plans.
“No nation survives without long-term development plans. We are almost at 2020, there is nothing on ground to say there is plan pointing at 2020. They keep telling us that the power generation will hit over 20,000 mw by 2020. As regards Brazil, they have a very high potential for hydro power and they took their time to train their people. They built power plants and export power to neighbouring countries”.
On the way out, Okafor said, it is high time Nigeria considers renewable energy as panacea to incessant power outages. “These renewable energy sources like solar, wind, coal, biomass and small hydro are good even though not cost effective but they should be encouraged. Nevertheless, we still need big generating plants to run our steel plants and manufacturing industries.
Fuel Scarcity
Experience over the years has shown that Nigeria has not been able to find solution to frequent scarcity of petroleum products. The ultimate solution is to build new refineries. It doesn’t make sense for a country that produces crude oil to be importing refined product. Refining crude oil locally will not only make enough products for local consumption available, but will provide employment for the teeming unemployed youths. Refine locally to meet local needs will solve the problem of oil subsidy that runs into billions of naira every year.
A petro-chemical engineer, Funso Adebowale, suggests that Nigeria should build new refineries with local technology instead of spending huge sums of money importing experts to come and maintain the existing refineries that has never met local demand.
Adebowale reasoned that the funds used in paying the experts to come and service our old refineries would have been better channelled into research in our universities or assist to develop what is referred to as illegal refineries that abound in the Niger Delta.
“Evidence abound that crude oil has been locally refined in the Niger Delta by the people we derogatorily referred to as oil thieves. What that means is that local refineries exist in Nigeria. We should improve on them.
“Nigeria has the capacity to refine crude oil but the problem has been lack of political will and vision on the part of our political leaders. The in-coming administration should hearken to the voice of reasoning by encouraging the universities to embark on research to produce home grown refineries within a time frame”.
Unifying the country
The task before Buhari is enormous. His first task will be to heal the wounds of a charged electoral campaign. He is inheriting a country divided along ethnic and religious lines more than any time in the nation’s history. This fact was not lost on him when he declared in his first speech after he was declared winner of the election that: “This was a hard- fought contest. Emotions are high. We must not allow them to get the better of us. This is not the time for confrontation”.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar aptly captured what most Nigerians expect from their new leader in his letter of congratulation. Atiku said: “When you assume our highest office, you must become the president of not just the APC, but all of Nigeria, including the people who did not vote for you. We look up to you to heal the fractures of our country and truly unite this country like never before.”
Prof. Ademola Ariyo is of the Department of Economics at the University of Ibadan (UI). In collaboration with the United States Information Agency, he founded the Ibadan-based Centre for Public Private Co-operation (CPPC), which aims at sustaining development in Nigeria and other African countries. He spoke to OSEHEYE OKWUOFU on a variety of issues, including prospects of good governance and fight against corruption. Excerpts:
What informed the founding of the Centre for Public Private Co-operation (CPPC)?
I think there is a link between my person, my vision and the coming on board of the Centre for Public Private Co-operation (CPPC) in 1995. After my experience in government at both state and federal levels, I noticed a gap between the government, the people and the quest for sustainable development.
We perceived that a lot of effective partnership among the major players was and still is a necessary condition for achieving the goals of sustainable development in African countries in general and Nigeria in particular. It is also a basis for evolving and building strong institutions because, in partnerships, there should be openness and consensus.
However, government should coordinate the apportioning of responsibilities to individuals and groups and not to act as master of the process. So, having gotten some ideas, we spoke with some people within and outside Nigeria and we got a proposal funded by the United States Information Agency on issues of good governance and that led to the formation of CPPC.
The advocacy for good governance is what I have been doing since 1996. Although we have been able to get good support since we started, luckily, when civilian regime came on board in 1999, we had more disciples and other advocacy groups. We played very important roles in empowerment, exposing them to principles of transparency, accountability and good governance. That is what I have been doing over the years.
Based on your experience, what can you say about good governance in Nigeria, is the country on the right track?
There is a minor misconception about the difference between governance and government. Government is essentially two inter-related aspects that is the existence of the necessary high quantum of institutions and the degree of independence that each institution enjoys in performing its assigned roles. There should be no issues of dominance, suppression of roles or over-riding of institutions. I think by and large we have been extremely deficient in this aspect in Nigerian environment.
I am not sure since the commencement of civilian regime that we can say categorically that we have seen the light at the end of the tunnel in terms of good governance. We discovered that in most cases we are governed by the rule of the boss rather than the rule of the law.
Incidentally, the National Assembly that is the parliament is a notable landmark of the existence of democratic rule. But we all saw what has been happening over the years. I also had an insight to some of these things when I served as Budget Adviser to the National Assembly. I think we still have a long way to go, we are not yet there in the concept of moving towards good governance.
Some are due to primordial issues, some due to low literacy about the essence and benefits of procedures, processes and the benefits of good governance. Some people say that if we had galvanised support for good governance, they will lose their privileged positions. It’s not necessarily true but it’s a way of ensuring that everybody is well off without any genuine person being worse off. That is the essence of good governance.
Would you say that Nigeria has the necessary institutions that would enhance good governance?
There are two major players in this regard, the executive and the legislature. For example, the head of the executive has to be elected. That is a typical representative political system. The two of them come on board on a platform of electoral process but that is a sort of opportunity to manage the system. The way the legislative system has been handled is nothing near what we can say represents good governance. What I am saying in essence is that representative political system is a necessary but not sufficient condition for good governance. When you look at what I call the gadgets, the police or other institutions, they are not as independent as they need to be, especially the police. Even if we have the best police in the world that is willing to perform, they are within the control of the head of the executive.
There have been documented researches that we are yet to have the 21st Century police that will be able and willing to ensure the emergence of good governance. The police have a lot of work to do. The military essentially is to protect the territorial integrity of the country and help ward off any insurgency.
Also, we knew what was happening in the judiciary. Recently, we witnessed manipulation in the judiciary which shows that they are not playing their roles the way they should be.
The principle of separation of power is a necessary factor in a democratic setting. Do you think politicians have regard for this principle?
To a certain degree, I say yes. But there is over-bearing influence of the party structure, especially between the executive and the legislature. It is only in Nigeria that you will hear about political solution to serious economic and criminal issues. Most people believe that even if you committed the most heinous crime such as switching from one political party to the other, such politician is in safe haven.
Consider some of the cases between the executive and the legislature, although we don’t expect them to be enemies, there should be a limit to their co-operation; so that it will not amount to conspiracy against the people.
The legislature is supposed to be a check on the executive, but in most cases, according to information, once they have the party caucus, they want to protect the interest of the party.
So, with that we are not yet in ideal level, although I want to acknowledge that when I was in the National Assembly as adviser, the legislators stood their ground on some key national issues.
For example, it was my strong argument that led to the establishment of excess crude account. I also remember that around 2008 or 2009 when the National Assembly recovered above 450 million dollars at the end of the year balances that were not sent to the treasury. Those were landmark cases but to me, this does not create a sort of a winner or loser scenario.
I expect the legislators to be able to stand their ground on some issues. Look at what they are doing now with regard to constitution amendment bill. The executive challenged the authority of the National Assembly and going up to the Supreme Court. These are scenarios that will strengthen each party to know their right and limitations in a democratic set up. And that is an ideal scenario in an emerging democratic Nigeria.
Corruption has been an endemic issue that has undermined the country’s growth and development, even as it has hampered good governance. What prospects lay ahead, especially with an incoming administration?
I will look at it from two angles; the incoming government should and must do something about corruption because that was the flagship promise that swayed the people into voting for them massively. The second is, can it curb corruption? Yes it can curb corruption because the leadership plays a very dominant role in the life of any organisation.
•Gen. Buhari
If you go by the antecedent, the President-elect has a very good track record. People are talking about what he did while he was in power between 1984 and 1985 which is correct. But the most important issue of hope is his lifestyle that is not a fluke.
I was shocked on what he said during his party’s primaries; that he has no penny to bribe any delegates and even if he has money, he was not ready to bribe anybody because he didn’t want to buy the presidency but to serve; I was shocked because that wasn’t what we are used to.
I read somewhere that as a former Minister of Petroleum, he didn’t have a single petrol station and that at a personal level, I have a friend that has been to his house at Daura for about two or three times. As a former Head of State, it is unbelievable the way he lives.
So, for him to come back, I think there is a lot of prospect for this country. My fear is that even if he performs miracle while in office, can we sustain the gains of hat informed the founding of the Centre for Public Private Co-operation (CPPC)?
I think there is a link between my person, my vision and the coming on board of the Centre for Public Private Co-operation (CPPC) in 1995. After my experience in government at both state and federal levels, I noticed a gap between the government, the people and the quest for sustainable development.
We perceived that a lot of effective partnership among the major players was and still is a necessary condition for achieving the goals of sustainable development in African countries in general and Nigeria in particular. It is also a basis for evolving and building strong institutions because, in partnerships, there should be openness and consensus.
However, government should coordinate the apportioning of responsibilities to individuals and groups and not to act as master of the process. So, having gotten some ideas, we spoke with some people within and outside Nigeria and we got a proposal funded by the United States Information Agency on issues of good governance and that led to the formation of CPPC.
The advocacy for good governance is what I have been doing since 1996. Although we have been able to get good support since we started, luckily, when civilian regime came on board in 1999, we had more disciples and other advocacy groups. We played very important roles in empowerment, exposing them to principles of transparency, accountability and good governance. That is what I have been doing over the years.
Based on your experience, what can you say about good governance in Nigeria, is the country on the right track?
There is a minor misconception about the difference between governance and government. Government is essentially two inter-related aspects that is the existence of the necessary high quantum of institutions and the degree of independence that each institution enjoys in performing its assigned roles. There should be no issues of dominance, suppression of roles or over-riding of institutions. I think by and large we have been extremely deficient in this aspect in Nigerian environment.
I am not sure since the commencement of civilian regime that we can say categorically that we have seen the light at the end of the tunnel in terms of good governance. We discovered that in most cases we are governed by the rule of the boss rather than the rule of the law.
Incidentally, the National Assembly that is the parliament is a notable landmark of the existence of democratic rule. But we all saw what has been happening over the years. I also had an insight to some of these things when I served as Budget Adviser to the National Assembly. I think we still have a long way to go, we are not yet there in the concept of moving towards good governance.
Some are due to primordial issues, some due to low literacy about the essence and benefits of procedures, processes and the benefits of good governance. Some people say that if we had galvanised support for good governance, they will lose their privileged positions. It’s not necessarily true but it’s a way of ensuring that everybody is well off without any genuine person being worse off. That is the essence of good governance.
Would you say that Nigeria has the necessary institutions that would enhance good governance?
There are two major players in this regard, the executive and the legislature. For example, the head of the executive has to be elected. That is a typical representative political system. The two of them come on board on a platform of electoral process but that is a sort of opportunity to manage the system. The way the legislative system has been handled is nothing near what we can say represents good governance. What I am saying in essence is that representative political system is a necessary but not sufficient condition for good governance. When you look at what I call the gadgets, the police or other institutions, they are not as independent as they need to be, especially the police. Even if we have the best police in the world that is willing to perform, they are within the control of the head of the executive.
There have been documented researches that we are yet to have the 21st Century police that will be able and willing to ensure the emergence of good governance. The police have a lot of work to do. The military essentially is to protect the territorial integrity of the country and help ward off any insurgency.
Also, we knew what was happening in the judiciary. Recently, we witnessed manipulation in the judiciary which shows that they are not playing their roles the way they should be.
The principle of separation of power is a necessary factor in a democratic setting. Do you think politicians have regard for this principle?
To a certain degree, I say yes. But there is over-bearing influence of the party structure, especially between the executive and the legislature. It is only in Nigeria that you will hear about political solution to serious economic and criminal issues. Most people believe that even if you committed the most heinous crime such as switching from one political party to the other, such politician is in safe haven.
Consider some of the cases between the executive and the legislature, although we don’t expect them to be enemies, there should be a limit to their co-operation; so that it will not amount to conspiracy against the people.
The legislature is supposed to be a check on the executive, but in most cases, according to information, once they have the party caucus, they want to protect the interest of the party.
So, with that we are not yet in ideal level, although I want to acknowledge that when I was in the National Assembly as adviser, the legislators stood their ground on some key national issues.
For example, it was my strong argument that led to the establishment of excess crude account. I also remember that around 2008 or 2009 when the National Assembly recovered above 450 million dollars at the end of the year balances that were not sent to the treasury. Those were landmark cases but to me, this does not create a sort of a winner or loser scenario.
I expect the legislators to be able to stand their ground on some issues. Look at what they are doing now with regard to constitution amendment bill. The executive challenged the authority of the National Assembly and going up to the Supreme Court. These are scenarios that will strengthen each party to know their right and limitations in a democratic set up. And that is an ideal scenario in an emerging democratic Nigeria.
Corruption has been an endemic issue that has undermined the country’s growth and development, even as it has hampered good governance. What prospects lay ahead, especially with an incoming administration?
I will look at it from two angles; the incoming government should and must do something about corruption because that was the flagship promise that swayed the people into voting for them massively. The second is, can it curb corruption? Yes it can curb corruption because the leadership plays a very dominant role in the life of any organisation.
If you go by the antecedent, the President-elect has a very good track record. People are talking about what he did while he was in power between 1984 and 1985 which is correct. But the most important issue of hope is his lifestyle that is not a fluke.
I was shocked on what he said during his party’s primaries; that he has no penny to bribe any delegates and even if he has money, he was not ready to bribe anybody because he didn’t want to buy the presidency but to serve; I was shocked because that wasn’t what we are used to.
I read somewhere that as a former Minister of Petroleum, he didn’t have a single petrol station and that at a personal level, I have a friend that has been to his house at Daura for about two or three times. As a former Head of State, it is unbelievable the way he lives.
So, for him to come back, I think there is a lot of prospect for this country. My fear is that even if he performs miracle while in office, can we sustain the gains of that miracle after his exit from government? People are still queuing after the Buhari/Idiagbon administration. This is part of the legacies.
I was in government immediately after he left office; even a devil will not take bribe because you will not be sure if you are talking to SSS or police. The country had value for money, even after he left office.
But the whole thing has collapsed. We remembered Generals Muritala’s/Obasanjo’s regime was the first military to probe military officers. They reduced their ranks, freeze their accounts, but another regime came on board and threw everything away.
If someone prosecutes me for corruption and another person comes in to throw the allegation away, then what is the crime in engaging in corruption? We are encouraging corruption now and it has become the norm in the public arena.
The incoming administration has to be careful not to get confused. It must know how to start very well and their anti-corruption crusade must be focused on mopping up leaking waters and ensure that where the pipe from which water is coming out from is blocked. That means that he must block the source of corruption. But how to sustain the blocking of the leaking pipe is the problem. There is no developed country that did not address the issue of corruption. Such countries included Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and others.
What is your assessment of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and Allied Matters Commission (ICPC) and other agencies in fighting corruption?
I am amazed by this question because I think it was the EFCC or ICPC bill which was appraised and one thing we noticed was that the government has over-bearing authority on who should be prosecuted.
Corruption is a public disease in Nigeria. So, when you set up a government-led institution to catch a government-led disease, there is a problem. It will not work. Overtime, even though there were pockets of arrests, some people don’t believe it’s an objective organisation or that it was being used by the government just to punish the opposition. I think that what we need is an independent anti-corruption agency, and the incoming government will have a lot to do here. How they would do that, I do not know.
But given the nature of corruption in Nigeria, a government apparatus cannot effectively curb corruption in the country. It is supposed to be an interventionist arrangement and overtime the nature and severity of corruption are supposed to be going down. But we are having the opposite effect; which shows that there is something amiss. That is the challenge. There must be an arrangement to make it independent before it can succeed. Kenya tried it and it worked, so we can learn from their experience. Anything short of independent anti-corruption agencies will not work.
In what ways has the CPPC contributed to good governance in Nigeria?
The CPPC has not been too far from the government and we have been liaising with both the executive and the legislative arms of government. At a certain point in time, we had working partnership in terms of advice from a judge of Supreme Court. This is because he was very much impressed.
For instance, we did a research on economic growth and regulations when the government came on board and we sent it to the National Assembly. We discovered some outdated laws that are totally incompatible with democratic dispensation which we sent to every member of the National Assembly then. As I said, through our research, we facilitated the excess crude account because the argument was that under a democratic dispensation, a government cannot spend beyond what was appropriated. If they add one Naira more than that, they have to go back to National Assembly. That is how we convinced the National Assembly. We are not saying government should not spend money but they must not spend beyond what was appropriated.
We have assisted in the recovery of N450 billion at the end of the year balances. So, we are having the desired effects one way or the other. But as I said, it is not sustainable due to the inherent weaknesses of the advocacy groups. Some of them believe they know everything and the government do use them for their own interest sometimes. These are the issues that we need to address. The advocacy groups have to get it right with the incoming administration.
Nigeria is one of the top oil-producing countries, yet the citizens experience acute fuel scarcity. Do we truly need fuel subsidy since the argument is that it is an avenue through which public fund is siphoned?
Yes, there can be subsidy. But there are two issues we have to look at. How does subsidy arise? Subsidy arises when the government wants the end users of a product to pay less than the cost of producing that product. It’s just like a life support to make life better for the people, may be because of the level of their income.
It happens in some other countries. I think maybe in Cot’devoire there is this public transport the government provided facility to privatise the management for efficient service delivery. The management will now prepare its own budget and tell the government how much it costs them to run that organisation.
After going through the whole thing, the government will now then make that as the most efficient cost of producing the product. The government will now said if the cost of producing that product is N100, it will instruct the organisation to charge the public N30 as it will pay the organisation the difference of N70.
So, it’s not uncommon, but in Nigeria, it seems o be a novel thing.
First of all what element went into calculation of the subsidy, including government tax? Secondly, you are talking of what we called transfer cost. We should be producing locally but look at how much it costs to buy from international market. We are talking of value in exchange. They call it export parity.
But there is value in use because we have that resource. It’s like planting yam and you want to consume part of the yam and sell the balance but when you want to prepare your account, you will say no, you have to charge at the cost it obtains in the market even though it’s mine.
So, there is element of fraud in that type of transaction. The more important thing is that who is benefiting from the subsidy. Let’s say we are talking of kerosene to be sold at N50. That is the basis for the subsidy. Who is buying kerosene at N50? There is a lot to look at in that area.
I am not saying that the government should cancel subsidy, but there are some necessary and sufficient conditions to make sure it actually delivers on the premise on which it was based. I don’t think we are doing the right thing and if we are doing the right thing, it is in the very wrong way. It is not desirable, but the government should take a very close look at it and see where the citizens need support. But I am not sure there is anything beneficial from the current arrangement.
Archbishop Magnus Atilade -Chairman, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), South-West region identified, wastages, corruption, power supply, health and education
“I believe that God has raise President Muhammadu Buhari and Prof. Yemi Osinbajo for a time like this. They are competent men, well tested and proven. They are coming on board at a point that Nigerians are really anxious to see changes.
For me, I will say the first agenda should be to plug all the wastages and loopholes in our system. You will realise there are too many outlets for waste in this country. They have to plug all those avenues to save more for the country.
The issue of power supply is also very crucial for us as Nigerians. It is sad that power is still epileptic and not available. We are tired of stories and explanations; all we want is power. If there is power, life will be a lot better. There will be more businesses and productivity. We don’t care how government does it but they must give us power.
Then, they must fight corruption like nothing else. The system is too corrupt and porous. Some privileged Nigerians are feeding on the nation and holding us to ransom. The next government has to tighten things and make sure no one succeeds in enriching himself in a corruptive manner.
Thirdly, I believe the issue of health should be taken seriously. Government has to make sure that more Nigerians are healthy for more productivity. We believe too much in western healthcare here. We have to provide opportunity for alternative traditional medicine. Before orthodox medicine came, there was a way our people treated themselves and healed sicknesses. We should encourage them and offer people options in medical treatment.
I believe vocational training is also crucial to Nigerians. The next government should encourage technical education. If someone learns tailoring and is doing well, it is likely he will be able to employ one or two other people. If that happens, unemployment will come down.
Hon. James Faleke, a member of House of Representatives listed corruption, economy, power, unemployment and security as the top priorities but wants battle against corruption to top the list.
Corruption
Corruption, in my view, is the first thing the Muhammadu Buhari-led government has to tackle if Nigeria must move forward. Corruption is the root cause of the major challenges confronting the country.
Cracking this monster should be the first step taken by the incoming government; because once we achieve a breakthrough in the war against corruption, solving the other challenges facing the country would not be too much of a problem.
Economy
It is no longer a secret that the nation’s economy is in such a bad state right now and so all hands must be on deck to bring it back on track.
But for government to achieve this economic recovery, all leakages of the revenue accruing to the country must be plugged. What currently obtains is that Nigeria is losing hundreds of billions through leakages in the system.
Power
This is central to solving the many challenges the country is facing, such as unemployment, insecurity and so on. It is quite unfortunate that after billions of dollars have been expended by the outgoing PDP government, the country still cannot provide steady and reliable power to service our homes and the industrial sector.
Unemployment
As repeatedly stated by the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari during the campaigns, the scourge of unemployment is a ticking time bomb that if not urgently addressed, would explode on our faces very soon.
The largest percentage of the country’s population is made up of the youth, who are mostly unemployed. The unemployment rate in the country is currently put at almost close to 25 percent; this is unacceptable. The social implication of this cannot be over-emphasised. Having a large population of vibrant and able bodied youth without jobs is a recipe for disaster.
Insecurity
Insecurity in form of armed robbery, kidnapping, insurgency and militancy must be vigorously tackled, as this would provide the enabling environment for people to conduct their lawful activities without fear and most importantly for businesses to thrive.
Through this also, there would be an increase in both local and foreign investments, which would in turn, provide millions of jobs for the unemployed.
Dr. Steve Egbo, a university don, was the governorship running mate of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Ebonyi State during the recent elections. In this interview with OGOCHUKWU ANIOKE, he speaks on the elections and how the incoming President Muhammadu Buhari can salvage the economy.
What do Nigerians expect from the new president in the area of electoral reform?
As far as INEC is concerned, there is still so much work to be done. INEC is still living under the shadow of the PDP; the shadow of impunity, recklessness, selfishness and greed. A larger percentage of INEC officials see elections simply as a period of making money and are ready to compromise. A situation where INEC announces fraudulent results and gets away with it, can never augur well for Nigeria’s electoral fortunes.
In the last 16 years, no tribunal or court has punished an INEC official or any other Nigerian for electoral offences. Our electoral reforms should focus primarily on ensuring that errant INEC officials and others are punished for sabotaging the will of the electorate. Such sabotage is treasonable and we cannot continue to overlook it.
How do you want the APC to tackle corruption?
If I should be asked to summarise Nigerians problems in one word, that word is corruption. Corruption has become such an integral part of our lives that we appear to have accepted it as a way of life. In Nigeria, corruption pays and let me say that it seems to get progressively worse. During the years of military rule, corruption was elevated to a very high pedestal. In one of my books, ‘Political Soldering: Africa’s Men on Horse Back’ published in 2001, I stated that military rule had put corruption in siren and injected every Nigerian on an assembly-line basis, such that those yet unborn would naturally inherit it in their blood stream.
I stated further that if you serve in public office and come home with nothing, your people may disown you, ostracize you or declare you unworthy. But, if you come home with enormous loot, the community will confer chieftaincy titles on you. The church will beautify you and the universities will give you honorary doctorate degrees. But, this problem is solvable and we need a man like Muhammadu Buhari, who has a very lean appetite to lead the crusade.
All he needs to do is to give notice that a new day has come. And starting from his office, his ministers and aides, down the line; the process for probity, accountability and credibility must be set in motion. If the leadership shows the way genuinely, courageously and determinedly, Nigerians will begin to have a rethink. Again, it is important to set a motion a legitimate and transparent process for recovering Nigeria’s stolen billions. If this is done faithfully without a desire to witch hunt, Nigeria will be better for it and we would begin to go back to the old fashioned way, the way of selflessness, credibility and hard work.
In the power sector, what should Nigerians expect from him?
This is a more technical area. I would advise the new president to set up a committee of men and women that are knowledgeable in this field to carry out a thorough investigation of Nigeria’s power sector. This is to enable us know what was done in the last 16 years and what was left undone. It ould also enable us to know how much was spent and those who sabotaged the effort.
So, at the end of it all, a proper recommendation will be made. I will advise the president not to fall into the temptation of saying I will provide 24 hour electricity within one or two years. We have heard such bogus statements before and at the end of it all, they end up with excuses some of which are out rightly laughable.
Today the level of confidence in Nigeria is remarkably high, and president-elect General Muhammadu Buhari has been described by many as embodying ‘the promise of change’. Hardly surprising, given that one of the reasons he became president-elect is because of his apparent zero-tolerance approach to corruption. Nigerians have indeed, continued to offer increasingly passionate support to the president-elect, and have been very busy setting agenda for the incoming government on how it can bring about real change. Expectedly, high on the list is the need to prosecute and punish corrupt high-ranking government officials.
But one useful complementary legal remedy against corruption has been largely ignored: the use of human rights law to empower the citizens and provide effective remedies for victims of corruption.
Corruption is anathema to effective enjoyment of human rights, but it is often considered an ‘ordinary and victimless crime.’ It isn’t.
Yet the myth that corruption is a victimless crime has prevailed for many years, in part because of the narrowed conception of corruption, and the perceived legal and practical challenges, such as causation, legal standing, and evidence-gathering. However, it is not that those who characterise corruption as victimless completely disagree that it causes harms, especially to the economically and socially vulnerable (that is, any individual or determinate class of persons, who by reason of poverty, or disability or socially or economically disadvantaged and vulnerable position, suffer most the immediate effects of violations of human rights caused by corruption).
On the contrary, the argument often put forward is that since no one victim suffers more harm than others, and that there may be no direct victim, it is probably pointless to labour in search of ‘invisible victims’. This line of reasoning would appear weak and difficult to sustain, for the following reasons. First, apart from causing both direct and indirect economic and other harms to citizens and the public in the form of the loss of the common wealth and public revenue, corruption also causes non-monetary loss in the form of widespread and consistent denial of impartial application of the rule of law.
While it may be difficult to quantify the harms that corruption causes, this doesn’t make the harms less real, less destructive, or less corrosive. In fact, the manifestations and indicators of these harms can be easily recognised in the form of poverty and the systematic, gross human rights violations that millions of economically and socially vulnerable Nigerians have suffered for many years.
As former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan stated during the 2003 adoption by the General Assembly of the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) corruption: ‘(H) as a wide range of corrosive effects on societies; undermines democracy and the rule of law; leads to violations of human rights; erodes the quality of life…hurts the poor disproportionately by diverting funds intended for development, and undermines a state’s ability to provide basic services.’
While it is true that the causes of poverty and underdevelopment in Nigeria are complex (and no single factor causes poverty), the longstanding problem of corruption is unquestionably one explanation for deficits in the rule of law, a drain on public treasury, and exacerbation of existing vulnerabilities and inequalities.
The Buhari government, therefore, can’t afford to treat grand corruption as an isolated incident if he doesn’t want to be accused in four years’ time of leaving both communities and individual victims of corruption powerless and without effective remedies.
At the moment, the legal frameworks against corruption in Nigeria do not reflect elements of the accountability of the government for the human rights violations faced by victims of grand corruption. The victims are largely neutralised (and virtually anonymous) in the criminal process, with no access to human rights remedies.
The overriding priority for the Buhari government starting on 29 May is, therefore, first, to provide a strong leadership by proposing and facilitating the passage of a bill by the National Assembly that would characterise grand corruption as a breach of national trust and grant the citizens enforceable human right to ensure the eradication of corruption and abuse of power and, second, to establish a Trust Fund for victims of corruption in the country.
With respect to the first point, the Buhari government can take a clue from the abandoned 1995 draft Constitution of Nigeria (proposed, ironically, while Abacha, regarded as one of the most corrupt leaders of Nigeria, was in power), which explicitly grants legal standing to the citizens to sue for violations of their human rights occasioned by corruption. The draft constitution provided in Section 35 that ‘Every personshall have the right to: (a) ensure the eradication of corrupt practices, and abuse of power; (b) protect and preserve public property; (c) fight against misappropriation and squandering of public funds.’
The proposed legislation can also contain provision to characterise the failure of national and foreign banks to prevent stolen funds from being cached in their banks and to aid in their recapture as complicity, after the fact, and itself, a delict.
Secondly, the Buhari government should establish a Trust Fund for victims of corruption, drawn mostly from recovered stolen wealth and other interest that might be generated from this. Given the limited resources available, fines should be imposed on corrupt officials, and such fines should be set aside as endowment for the trust funds. The proposed trust funds can also be augmented by support from international development agencies and other relevant institutions and the private sector.
Part of the funds should be used to establish victims’ assistance programmes to ensure the victims’ perspective is fully integrated into the fight against corruption.
The notion of trust funds for victims of human rights violations is a well-established mechanism in international law and relations, such as under Article 75 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (which creates a fund for the benefit of victims of international crimes and their families, the assets of which may originate from money or property collected through fines or forfeiture imposed by the ICC on the individual perpetrator).
The idea of a trust fund is also frequently adopted in mass claims programmes (such as the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal of 1981) to provide ‘effective remedies for numerous individuals who suffered losses, damage or injuries as a result of an armed conflict or a similar event causing widespread damage’. The existence of armed conflict is not a requirement for mass claims: similar types of claims would arise from environmental disasters, causing widespread damage or injury, or from systematic human rights violations in peace time caused by corruption.
The goal is presumably to achieve ‘practical justice: that is, a justice that would be swift and efficient, yet not rough’. Mass claims cases are clearly similar in kind to the adverse effects of corruption on human rights. Therefore, the Buhari government should replicate the mass claims principles, and work towards establishing trust funds (as an essential element of remedial justice) for victims of corruption.
By establishing such trust funds, the Buhari government will also be signalling that victims will no longer be marginalised in the fight against corruption.
Indeed, the UN Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power provides some guarantees for victims (including family members of direct victims), such as those that suffer ‘substantial impairment of their fundamental rights’ through acts or omissions, including abuse of power. Corruption is implied here as the ultimate abuse of power. Victims of human rights violations would be entitled to effective remedies regardless of whether they bring their claims against the state in an individual or collective capacity.
On the one hand, the institutions of governance and the society as a whole are the victims. On the other hand, corruption disproportionately inflicts grave harms on the economically and socially vulnerable, who, in addition to violations of their specific human rights, are also denied access to effective operation of the rule of law and institutions of government.
In his ‘Covenant with Nigerians’ the president-elect stated ‘I believe if Nigeria does not kill corruption, corruption will kill Nigeria.’ He is spot-on. But if any significant and sustainable success is to be recorded in the fight against corruption, the Buhari government will need to avoid more of the same. Nigerians want to see General Buhari taking creative, radical, evolutionary, and bold initiatives to fight corruption and thereby working to create a state that serves its people’s interests.
Make no mistake, the road to ‘change’ will be filled with ‘potholes and blind curves.’
But four years from now, Nigeria can be ‘a new country’ where corruption is no longer considered ‘normal’ if the Buhari government can show strong leadership, political will, and the courage to do something dramatically different.
As John Maynard Keynes said in his famous speech in Manchester in 1926: ‘The political problem of mankind is to combine three things: economic efficiency, social justice and individual liberty.’ Buhari’s primary task in the next four years is to produce a country that will come closest to passing Keynes’s triple test.
• Olaniyan, PhD, is the author of ‘Corruption and Human Rights Law in Africa’
A group, Exam Ethics Marshal International (EEMI), has urged the incoming government to beam its anti-corruption searchlight on the education sector.
Founding chairman of the group, Mr Ike Onyechere, decried the high level of malpractices in the education sector in a proposal to President-Elect, Gen Muhammadu Buhari on how best to tackle education malpractices.
He recommended an eight-point agenda for ‘the Buhari Presidency’ to “signal zero-tolerance for exam malpractice, academic dishonesty and corruption in education.”
“It is important to send an immediate and unmistakable signal of zero-tolerance for corruption in the education sector. Exam Ethics recommends an eight-point programme of action for sending such a signal,” he said.
In the agenda, Onyechere canvassed for the re-launching of exam malpractice blacklist initiative to name and shame invigilators, supervisors and schools that aid and abet malpractices.
He flashed back to the inception of the blacklist initiative under the administration of Dr Oby Ezekwesili as Minister of Education in 2007, where names of schools operating as magic centres, individuals and organisations involved in malpractice were published in the media, but failed to publish the execution of any form of sanctions on the parties involved; and charged the incoming administration to shun secrecy of the names of defaulters as is the norm.
He also recommended re-visiting the Need Assessment Report on federal universities to identify and sanction those involved in criminalising the tertiary education process.
The third point of the agenda suggested that all regulatory agencies of tertiary institutions, including National Universities Commission (NUC) and others, be directed to take action on recent government white papers on state tertiary institutions, as “immediate action is needed to curb the regime of impunity of state functionaries in many state tertiary institutions.”
Its fourth agenda for Buhari would be to set up task teams to carry out re-accreditation of courses in all public and private universities in the country, disregarding previous accreditation reports.
It further proposed the re-validation of the educational qualifications of all workers in the Federal Ministry of Education, agencies and institutions of education, “as nobody can give what he does not have.”
The group also asked that certified professional associations be compelled to institute stronger self-regulatory mechanisms, with the notion that “the real danger to society is that licensed assassins cannot be stopped because they are covered by certifications and licenses awarded by educational institutions.”
In addition, the group urged the government to compel the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), the National Examinations Council (NECO) and other public examination boards to make public, the names of candidates barred from taking their exams.
“The names, exam numbers and pictures of candidates involved in exam malpractice in Nigeria should be published in newspapers as is the case in other West African Countries,” the statement read.
The final point of the agenda recommended that leadership and institutional support be provided for the group, Exam Ethics, for their efforts in sustaining the campaign against corruption in education since its inception in 1996.
Emphasising the importance of the eight-point agenda, Onyechere said: “The consequences of corruption in education are particularly fundamental, pre-eminent and most devastating for society. This is because it is the role of education to produce leaders, professionals, workers and citizens with the character to shun corruption and the competences to transform national potentials into developmental realities.
“Education is not playing this role when institutions are virtual breeding grounds for corruption, where leaders of tomorrow are weaned on diets of fraud and where the processes of admissions, training, examination, certification, registration and regulation are criminalized.”
Former Dean, Faculty of Law of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Professor Oyelowo Oyewo, has said that there was need for local governments in the country to be involved in the fight against corruption.
He gave this suggestion while delivering a lecture entitled: Promoting Transparency and Accountability at the Local Government/Community level’, at a one-day training/interactive seminar, on the role of local government in the fight against corruption. It was organised by Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) in collaboration with Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA).
Prof. Oyewo argued that the local government system is not immuned from the system of bad governance, a phenomenon which he noted has been entrenched in the system.
“Transparency suggests that public office holders should be open while carrying out the business of governance. It is sad, that government officials spend money on things that are irrelevant.
“The Lagos State government remains a model in the aspect of transparency and accountability. It has even passed what it termed the public finance law. But what is not clear is whether the state government has begun implementation of same at other levels.
“The legislative regime in existence today is counterproductive to the Nigerian political process,” he noted.
The Professor of law however urged Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega, to ensure the use of card readers in the coming local government elections across the country.
Also speaking on the role of local government in promoting citizens access to justice, a professor of public law from Unilag, Professor Ayo Atsenuwa expressed sadness that Nigerians have been ambushed by agents of government.
She explained that the essence of the local government system is to get citizens to participate in government.
Earlier in his remarks, former Chairman, House Committee on Judiciary of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Babatunde Ogala maintained that for every corrupt political office holder, there is a civil servant aiding him or her.
He further maintained that corruption has eaten deep into the foundation of the country, just as he called on Nigerians to rise up and fight the manace to a standstill.
In his welcome address, SERAP’S Executive Director, Adetokunbo Mumuni explained that the training/interactive seminar is aimed at bringing together local government representatives, civil society, diplomatic missions and embassies, and most especially the Media to discuss the potential role of the local government and its citizens in promoting transparency and accountability and to advance citizens access to justice in the fight against corruption.
FOR Nigeria to return to its glorious days, the incoming administration of General Muhammadu Buhari has been tasked to ensure that all those who enrich themselves at the expense of the nation face the full wrath of the law.
A university don, Prof. Oyewale Tomori, said this at a lecture he delivered titled ‘Transforming Nigeria into a Changed Nation,’ at the annual May Day distinguished lecture of The House of Lords in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.
While expressing optimism that Buhari would solve some of the challenges confronting the country, Tomori, however, advised the president-elect not to priortise his programms, adding, “The incoming administration should not tackle all the problems at the same time. It should be one after the other. The president should pick out the most crucial ones, the first thing being corruption.”
Tomori also called for called for moral reorientation of Nigerians, because according to him, the negative attitude of most Nigerians rather than the government has further compounded the country’s woes.
