SAN FRANCISCO, October 18, (THEWILL) – The Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, has described corruption as a crime against humanity because it is largely responsible for the abject poverty of the majority and the massive fatalities of the most vulnerable in our society.
Speaking at the National Conference on the role of the Legislature in the fight against corruption on Tuesday, Osinbajo declared that corruption is ultimately a fatal scourge as he had heard anyone say that they support corruption.
Taking a swipe at those against the efforts of the Muhhamadu Buhari-led war against corruption, Osinbajo argued that the technicality of how corrupt people are arrested should not be the focus.
“I have been involved in anti-corruption advocacy and research, and action since1990. In all of that, I have never heard anyone say with any seriousness that they support corruption. Indeed everyone agrees that corruption is ultimately a fatal scourge,” he said.
“Let me even argue that it is a crime against humanity, given the fact that in many countries including ours, it is largely responsible for the abject poverty of the majority and the massive fatalities of the most vulnerable in our society.
“For the majority of our citizens, the greed and mindless selfishness that portends corruption is bewildering. How do you explain how anyone can embezzle funds meant to equip soldiers for a war that could consume thousands and eventually all of us?
“Or how in the midst of so much want, how can some seize the treasury for themselves, their families and friends? And how can anyone argue after all of that, that all that is required and all that we need to pay attention to is the technicality of how such people are possibly arrested?
“As the Senate President just pointed out, a few subsidy scams consumed almost N5 Trillion. When you consider that the budget is N6 Trillion, the size, the scale of the damage is clear. So I am sure that we all agree that there is no point bringing together this most distinguished, erudite and knowledgeable group for an intellectual exigencies on the consequences of corruption.
“Indeed we have a chance to develop a uniquely Nigerian approach to deal with this problem. I think it is important for us to be humble and clear headed enough to understand that the coalition that should emerge from such a consensus is not a coalition of saints, neither can it be a conclave of only righteous men and women bound by holier-than-thou creed and a crusading view. No, that will fail.
“What we need is a coalition of reasonable men and women of the Nigerian bureaucratic, political, business and religious elite. Men and women who believe that the proposition that corruption does not pay is not merely a moral injunction, that it is an admission of a grave reality in commerce, in governance or whatever other field of human endeavour.
“That a corrupt executive, for example, will destroy all plans of development, that a corrupt legislature will use its legislative and oversight functions to enrich itself and compromise its roles of checks and balances, and the corrupt judiciary will sell its powers over life and death to the highest bidder and will turn society to the anarchical notion that self-help is best.
“That corruption in the capital market or banking system means that we cannot be sure that our investments will ever be safe. We may wake up one day to find that the banks or stocks that we put our resources in have failed because of the dishonest acts of a few.
“It means that the corrupt law enforcement officer will settle personal scores with its exclusive rights to use the force of state power. So, the proposition that corruption does not pay is simply one that captures the self-destructive nature of corruption.”
Story by Oputah David
