• Paying lip service to graft fight ridicules exercise –Itse Sagay
Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, has said the latest corruption perception index released by Transparency International (TI), last week, should not be seen as a set back in President Muhammadu Buhari’s fight against corruption in Nigeria.
Osinbajo said the latest TI ranking should be seen as an opportunity to continue building on the many successes that have already been recorded by the Buhari-led administration in all key sectors.
The vice president said this when he spoke on the theme: “The imperative of cooperation of arms of government in a democratic dispensation”, at the Dialogue of Organs of Government on Reform of Justice Sector and Campaign Against corruption, jointly organised by the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption and Federal Ministry of Justice.
Represented by the Deputy Chief of Staff, Ade Ipaye,
“This dialogue couldn’t have come at a better time because only recently, Transparency International released a report suggesting that Nigerian declined in the perception index for reasons which I will discuss shortly.
“We are firmly of the view that real progress is being achieved in the fight against corruption in Nigeria, and, perception may, indeed, lag behind reality.
“But, as the saying goes, perception is sometimes stronger than reality, so, we have to keep up the good fight, until the full effect of our efforts can be clearly seen and perceived.
“In that regard, the ranking of Nigeria by the 2017 Transparency International Corruption Perception Index (CPI), released on February 21, should not, in anyway, be seen as a setback but an opportunity to continue building on the many successes that have already been recorded by this government in all the key sectors.
“It is also important to note that the main reason for Nigeria’s decline in the TI 2017 CPI is that Nigeria recorded a major drop in score on just one, out of the nine internationally-recognised indexes used by TI, to ascertain perceived levels of public sector corruption from the perspective of experts and business people.
“So, the the drop recorded was in just one, out of the nine recognised indexes. The index in question scored Nigeria low on the economy intelligence unit country’s risk service with the decline from 37 points to 20. This is an index that analyses the risks of financial exposure in countries. The question to be asked then is, ‘what changed so dramatically between 2016 and 2017?’
“As we speak, the budget for 2018 is under public scrutiny at the National Assembly. The allocation and use of public funds is guided by the budget and represents one of the key areas of consultations and interaction between the two arms of government, that is the executive and legislature.
“The endless probes and the use of public funds going on, within the executive and the legislative arms, underscores the transparency of this government and its intention to ensure that funds are used for public purposes.
“What sets Buhari’s leadership apart from others is the prudent and transparent management of national resources…”
On his part, Chairman of PACAC, Prof. Itse Sagay, said paying lip service to the fight against corruption ridicules the whole exercise.
“Fighting corruption cannot be lip service. You cannot be corrupt and be talking against corruption, it ridicules the whole exercise and the spirit of that struggle.
“And so, we should purge ourselves of corruption so that we can stand on firm ground to speak. Some might have been corrupt in the past but, if you purge yourselves, then, you are welcome. It ridicules the whole process when we see people waxing lyrical on anti-corruption whereas behind them, they have huge load of assets and other things which they corruptly acquired.”