Sidebar

Exclusive Reports

29
Fri, Mar

Anti-Corruption Fight: We Must Change Tactics To Win – Osinbajo

Top News
Typography
  • Smaller Small Medium Big Bigger
  • Default Helvetica Segoe Georgia Times

Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo has revealed that for Nigeria to win the fight against corruption the current tactics need to be reviewed. Osinbajo made this statement during a virtual interactive season of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), titled “Combating Corruption and Illicit Financial Flows: New Measures and Strategies”.

According to the Vice President, there is no magic bullet to ending corruption, stemming IFFs, or promoting asset recovery and return. In his statement, “We simply must work hard at it and be determined to succeed. He continued, “We must make corruption expensive to those who engage in it and send the unequivocal message that corruption simply does not pay.

Osinbajo said, “Domestically we must also be prepared to change, to some extent, our tactics in the fight against corruption. He said: “Listening to Edward Kallon (The UN resident coordinator in Nigeria who spoke earlier), I am convinced that there are many practical steps that can be taken.” Mr. Osinbajo advocated for democratizing the fight against corruption.

Though he expressed optimism on how Nigerians are happy with the fight but noted that grand corruption is capable of bringing the economy to its knees. He added Nigerians are anxious too to see in what way the government can stamp out what we regard as petty corruption like in the licensing office, from obtaining certificate and approval of any kind.
Many Nigerians want to see that corruption at all levels is tackled effectively, the Vice president said.

He called for more protection of whistle-blowers who wish to genuinely want to expose corruption, saying concealing their identities would go a long way in the fight. However, Osinbajo noted that in the whole gimmick, corruption always fights back because corrupt individuals have the resources to do so.

He noted that in recent times, there are unscrupulous elements that are paid to flood social media with lies against some individuals who are perceived to be fighting corruption.
He said though the technique is not new, the idea is to paint everybody with the same brush to confuse spectators from identifying who is actually corrupt and who is not and consequently witter the effort of the whistle-blower.

The Vice president laments the slow process of our court system and there calculated scheming that the victims may not pursue litigation or prosecution; he said we must re-strategize to ensure the trick not only fails but should be penalized.

Mr. Osinbajo also called for breaking the wall of secret corporate ownership which has been linked to underdevelopment especially on the African continent. He said that Africa as an international community must join forces to break the wall of secret corporate ownership in the corruption fight, saying that when the beneficiaries of the economy are exposed would go a long way in the fight.

He disclosed that under this current administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, there is a move to amend laws that would expose the beneficial interest of a company shares and prescribed punishment for failure to do so.

BLOG COMMENTS POWERED BY DISQUS