President Bola Tinubu has been charged to adopt stiffer measures in the fight against corruption to uplift the country from its current poor global rating.
The charge was given at the 36th Anti-Corruption Situation Room held in Abuja, a one-day forum organised by the Human and Environmental Development Agenda, (HEDA Resource Centre).
The national forum was organised in collaboration with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC), with support from the MacArthur Foundation.
The participants said the latest anti-corruption index for the country fell below global standards. As part of the demand, they said Tinubu needs courage and political will to diminish favouritism, promote the rule of law, lead the moral compass against corruption and abuse of office to lift Nigeria to a higher level of integrity, dignity, transparency, and respect in the comity of nations.
Chairman of HEDA Resource Centre, Olanrewaju Suraju, in his welcome address, vowed that the organisation will continue to lead the campaign against corruption to save the country from dishonour and its citizens from misery and underdevelopment. He said in every country, corruption is known to be a threat to prosperity and the greatest good for the greatest number of people.
“In Nigeria, corruption remains a cankerworm that stunts socio-economic growth, creates poverty, fuels instability and leads to human misery. Efforts against corruption in Nigeria, including in the last one year of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, are acknowledged, but a striking, radical break from the past is yet to be seen,” Suraju stated.
In their goodwill messages, Director of MacArthur Foundation, Dr. Kole Shettima, charged stakeholders to sustain engagement in the fight against corruption for the good of all and provide room for vulnerable groups to lend their voices.
Representatives of the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Chairman, Director-General of the National Orientation Agency and Inspector General of Police, all promised improved collaboration with stakeholders in the collective fight against public and private graft.
In the chairman’s remarks, former House of Representatives member, Kayode Oladele advocated action on federal character principles to address the imbalances and grievances in the country.
Professor Adele Jinadu, in his lead presentation, warned that corruption destroys the fabric of a nation and stunts growth and prosperity.
In the communique issued at the end of the event, the participants held that democratic institutions in Nigeria were not strong enough to withstand the whirlwind of manipulations and undue influences from politically exposed persons.
The forum noted that corruption is not inseparable from electoral integrity, independent candidacy, voters’ empowerment to be able to recall erring legislators, while enforcement of the right to information is given.
It observed that the judiciary remains weak and overburdened, characterised by delays and sometimes frivolous injunctions and adjournments in corruption trials.
The gathering noted the exploitation of sections of the Constitution, especially in instances where issues of fundamental rights are raised by defendants, which often delay procedures and offend the timely dispensation of justice.
It called for the need to rethink the approach to anti-corruption prosecution in Nigeria, which should embrace mandate protection and also reengineer the attitude of Nigerians through a fresh national reorientation framework.
The forum said Nigeria needs to ensure socio-economic rights are justiciable and backed with fresh laws that deploy state resources to enforce those laws, prohibit powers of the incumbency and avoid the use of procurement to create a war chest for the governments of the day.
“Anti-corruption agencies need to be more independent, while the power to appoint EFCC Chairman should be held by the Council of State with independent funding mechanism,” it added.