Vice President Yemi Osinbajo tells Nigerians not to give bribes
to police, customs, FRSC, Immigration
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is unhappy that some Nigerians
offer bribes to obtain drivers licences, passports or to clear goods at ports.
He said there is no reason why any Nigerian should give bribe to
law enforcement agents or other officers to get things done.
Osinbajo spoke on Tuesday in Abuja while declaring open the
anti-corruption conference tagged “Collaborative Approach to Eradicating the
Evils of Corruption in Nigeria.’’
The conference was organised by the Office of the Vice President
and the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC).
Quoting PricewaterhouseCoopers, Osinbajo said Nigeria’s 2030
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) could be up to 534 billion dollars higher if it
reduced corruption.
He said it did not matter how much revenue a country made or how
transformative its plans were; corruption would ensure that the majority of the
people did not benefit from it or simply truncate the plan.
According to him, in spite of the high oil revenues in Nigeria’s
history, debt doubled and poverty figures rose as a result of corruption.
He said that the administration was not slightly deluded into thinking
that it had won the battle against corruption as it was tackling grand
corruption first.
“By that we mean the stealing of huge public resources directly
from the treasury; usually at the highest levels of executive authority; and
the stealing of budgeted funds through various schemes.’’
He said that the enforcement of Treasury Single Account(TSA),
the Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit, and even ensuring that most
civil servants were on the IPPIS electronic platform had helped greatly to
control official theft of public funds.
The vice president said that the judiciary also moved the needle
in recent times.
“The Supreme Court in a lead judgment of Akaahs JSC, recently
held that forfeiture under Section 17 of the Advanced Fee Fraud and Other
Related Offences Act is a civil process which neither requires the criminal
conviction of the property owner nor his innocence.
“This opens the door for forfeiture of assets that the purported
owner cannot explain, whether or not an allegation of corruption is made.
“We are now poised to deal with the wider problem of systemic
corruption; especially where the average person interacts with government.
“Corruption in the issuance of contracts, licences and other
government approvals; there is no reason why any Nigerian should have to give
bribe to law enforcement agents for obtaining drivers licenses or passports, or
to clear goods at our ports.
“All the relevant government agencies have shown a serious
commitment to eradicating these forms of corruption; our next level is to
create the environment for collaboration between our agencies, civil society
and other stakeholders.’’
The vice president said that it was in recognition of the
enormity of corruption that President Muhammadu Buhari set up PACAC in 2015.
Osinbajo said that PACAC deserved commendation not just for its
sterling, innovative contributions to the fight against corruption, but for
regularly setting the agenda for important conversations on the subject.
On his part, PACAC’s Chairman, Prof. Itse Sagay, said
information and intelligence sharing among anti-corruption and security
agencies was critical in the fight against corruption.
He said that the Sept. 11 attack in New York and the recent
attack in Sri Lanka were all blamed on security agencies who failed to act on
or share intelligence.
“On June 1, 2016, PACAC organised a roundtable on corruption
information and intelligence sharing protocol.
He said that the justification for that roundtable was contained
in the summary of the outcome of the roundtable.
Sagay said that it was observed that information at the disposal
of various intelligence units in the country was not shared in a systematic and
pragmatic manner to assist the fight against corruption and other related
national security threats.
He said the gaps were identified as a setback in the fight against
corruption.
“Against the above background, PACAC developed a protocol on
information and intelligence sharing for anti-corruption and law enforcement
agencies and intelligence community.
“The recommendations of that roundtable were not only apt, but
were imperative for successful collaboration and information sharing among
the anti-corruption and security agencies.
“Let us use the opportunity this morning to reaffirm the
determination of the anti-corruption and security agencies to work together in
the interest of Nigeria in order to clear the cobweb of corruption that has
almost covered the face of Nigeria,” he said.
Heads of various anti-corruption agencies whose operations are
affected by corruption attended the event
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