SAN FRANCISCO, October 26, (THEWILL) – Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has described the war against endemic corruption in Nigeria as the fight for the soul of the nation and called for a collaborative effort from all arms of government.
He made the remark at a workshop organised by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the National Judicial Institute in Jabi Abuja.
He declared that corruption is the single greatest challenge facing the nation saying the notion that security was a more serious challenge was exploded, when in the last administration, it became clear that the escalation of the Boko Haram insurgency in the Northeast was on account of the fact that billions of dollars allotted to the purchase of arms for our military, was cynically embezzled by senior military and civilian government officials.
He added that the reason why Nigeria built no major new roads or no new infrastructure in the last 6 years, despite earnings from oil in excess of $100 dollars a barrel, is largely because of corruption.
“In the last administration, two weeks before the elections, cash in excess of N100billion and over $250 million, was released in a few days ostensibly for security purposes,” he said.
“The aggregate sum released was more than some States earned in a whole year. That is the enormity of the embezzlement that we are talking about.
“Corruption threatens our security, health, education and even our corporate existence. GAVI, the global fund for provision of vaccines for the poorest in developing countries, stopped providing funds to Nigeria for alleged mismanagement of funds by the Ministry of Health officials between 2011 and 2013.
“Nigeria had to refund $2.2million. These were vaccines and drugs meant to fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria, amongst the poorest of the poor of our country.
“The enormous resources in the hands of perpetrators today is used to subvert justice, to bribe pliable senior government officials, to bribe in some cases judicial officers, to subvert the legislative process and, of course, even to subvert the press.
“The problem with corruption is that it is a cancer. It may be terminal if not checked. The failure of African States, civil wars and destruction of lives and livelihoods, is the result of failure of institutions largely caused by endemic systemic corruption.
“It is because of the existential nature of the threat of corruption, that collaboration between the Judiciary, the Executive and of course the Legislature is imperative.”
He insisted that nations that have successfully confronted corruption did one thing in common which is that the administration of justice system changed its attitude to the investigation and trial of corruption cases.
“In working together, all of us in these institutions, the Judiciary, Executive and Legislature, are mindful that by the nature of systemic corruption all institutions are affected one way or the other,” he continued.
“But we must come together and we are coming together, as a patriotic gesture to rescue our nation from looming disaster.
“All nations that have successfully confronted corruption did one thing in common: the administration of the justice system changed its attitude to the investigation and trial of corruption cases.
“And this is important because it is not just about the Judiciary, clearly not. Investigations must be conducted properly and thoroughly before cases go to court. When cases go to court, what is presented is the best case the prosecution can present.
“But most of the countries that have successfully dealt with corruption have had to dispense with needless technicality and focused on the offence.
“In the case of public officers, they recognized that there can be no real explanation for a public officer, whose pay is public knowledge, to have cash and assets several times more than his earning, let alone his savings.
“And the reason why people can never understand the way that cases are decided sometimes, is because it goes contrary to common sense.
“If somebody earns in excess of what he should possibly even safe in several life times, freeing him by technicality can never make sense. It will always seem as if something has gone wrong with the system.
“I think what most nations recognise, what most judiciaries, and what most administration of justices systems recognise is that even the whole process of the decision-making process, must make sense.
“If it doesn’t make sense, then we undermine the very fundament of the judiciary and justice, and if this undermined, then everything is undermined.”
