Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC) Chairman Itse Sagay (SAN) yesterday accused the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) and the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) of corruption and “brazen impunity”.
He said the “recklessness” with which public officers spend public funds was “insensitive to the point of insanity”.
“Yes, I mean that. The level of insensitivity has become pathological,” Prof. Sagay said.
He spoke in Abuja at the National Dialogue on Corruption, organised by the Office of the Vice President in collaboration with PACAC.
On how pervasive graft has become, Sagay said: “Corruption is omnipresent in Nigeria. High and low office holders, public and private sectors, the executive, legislative and judicial sectors, immigration, police, the civil service, everywhere.
“What is extremely disturbing is the fact that people’s attitude to corruption has hardened. There is no longer any fear of consequences.
“Bribe is demanded brazenly with a sense of entitlement. So too has insensitivity to misuse, abuse and waste our common patrimony, even in these lean times.”
He said in the face of financial drought and famine, the National Assembly bought cars worth N30million each for oversight functions.
“The NDDC, which is the other name for uncompleted projects, has just bought over 70 cars. About eight of them are super Lexus Jeeps costing N78million each,” he said.
Sagay said the money could have been spent on infrastructure, housing, schools and hospitals.
He said it amounted to shedding crocodile tears for the NDDC management to complain of lack of funds for projects.
He said Customs had completely ignored the fight against corruption, operating as if it is not in Nigeria.
Sagay said last December, his cousin who was relocating to Nigeria from the United States after 26 years paid fraudulent duties for household goods.
“Bribe was demanded at every stage of the obstacle race called custom clearance, involving long table, short table and other ingenious instruments of extortion,” he said.
For instance, he said his cousin paid N1.2million for “approval of personal effects”, and paid for physical examination of items because the scanner was not working, among others.
Sagay said the huge recoveries being made by the Federal Government from former government officials showed that the “orgy of monumental looting continues”.
“We have to ask ourselves what the problem really is. We are definitely overwhelmed by an epidemic of kleptomania. But do we have a collective psychiatric problem?
“Why would a person loot what he cannot spend in 10 life times while exposing the rest of the population to misery, hunger, poverty, wretchedness, and even death,” Sagay said.
He slammed judges for violating the Administration of Criminal Justice Act which provides that ruling on preliminary objections shall be made at the time of delivery of judgment.
“In spite of these clear provisions, some judges are still granting adjournments running into months and, worse still, will adjourn their cases to give a ruling on a preliminary objection instead of giving the ruling at the same time as the judgment on the substantive criminal matter.
“What is more, contrary to Section 306, which provides that an application for stay of proceedings in respect of a criminal matter shall not be entertained, some courts still adjourn in order to await the outcome of an interlocutory appeal.
“All this is illegal and strictly constitute acts of misconduct on the part of the judge. The outcome of all this is that we have over 100 high profile cases not going nowhere,” he said.
Senate President Bukola Saraki, represented by Senator Chukwuka Utasi, faulted Sagay’s comments on the National Assembly.
He said it would be “counter productive” to “demonise” others.
“It does not help in confidence building within government and across the civil population when institutions of state are demonised to put a shine on others,” he said.
