From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and related offences Commission (ICPC), Professor Bolaji Owasanoye, has said the country has enough law to fight corruption.
However, Owasanoye, who spoke at a workshop, organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Anti-corruption, in collaboration with the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) on the theme; “Corruption As Threat Security In Nigeria”, said hypocrisy was an obstacle to anti-graft war in the country.
He noted that unless the issue of hypocrisy is addressed, the country will continue to grapple with corruption .
According to him, “we are not in short supply of anti-corruption legislations. There are many laws that many do not recognize as anti-corruption frameworks; that are not ICPC, EFCC, or Police or NAPTIP or NDLEA. The Bureau of Public Procurement is an anti-corruption gatekeeper, the CBN is an anti-corruption gatekeeper, the Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission, ICRC is an anti-corruption gatekeeper…I could go on, many of them like that, if you aggregate them, you would get like about 50.
“Most regulatory bodies also play anti-corruption role. Virtually, all professions are regulated…and every unethical practice that is carried out by these professionals is already prohibited by their rules, so we are not in short supply of anti corruption institutions but what we are in short supply of is integrity. We have a generous supply of hypocrisy, and we also deceive ourselves.
“It is very important that we understand that unless we confront these issues, we are going to continue to struggle, dealing with corruption, adding that corruption erodes the capacity of state to provide for the welfare of the people, and it reflects in different ways.
The Chairman, House Committee on Anti- Corruption, Shehu Garba, in his remarks, said corruption usually denies a nation of the needed development, and making good plans for the future. Garba noted that fighting graft cannot be effective without collaboration.
“It was heartwarming when this administration made the fight against corruption one its Cardinal pillars when it came on board, but we cannot succeed without collaboration”, he said and added that the subject has remained on the front burner of public discuss daily, but that there is hope, with collaboration , “we can fg hit this I’ll that has hindered us from making progress,” he stated.