TWO Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN) and other lawyers at the weekend expressed opposing views on the growing call by some Nigerians, including the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke, for the merger of the country’s anti-corruption agencies in order to give more bite to the anti-corruption crusade.
In separate interviews with The Guardian, four of the lawyers, including the former Secretary-General of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Chief Emeka Ngige (SAN), Port Harcourt-based Sebastine Hon (SAN), constitutional lawyers, James Ezike and Chief Anayo Uwazurike, who expressed different views on the matter, however backed the reforming of the agencies.
While Ngige and Hon did not see any need to merge the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ezike and Uwazurike said the action was long overdue but should be done through the amendment of the extant laws.
Also, the ICPC has urged President Goodluck Jonathan to strength the anti-corruption agencies and establish more of such bodies instead of merging the existing ones.
The ICPC’s Secretary, Mr. Elvis Oglafa, said this in Abuja when he received officials of Procurement Observation and Advocacy Initiative at the commission’s office.
In a statement, ICPC’s Head of Public Enlightenment Department, Mike Sowe, quoted Oglafa as saying that what was needed is a sustained attack on corruption.
Ezike, who believed that Adoke was extremely conservative and might not have appreciated the decay in the system, called for the collapsing of all agencies created for the purpose of enforcing and maintaining law into a new Nigeria police.
He said the merger should go beyond the EFCC and ICPC to include the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
According to him, though corruption had remained the nation’s biggest problem but duplication of these agencies considering our poverty, does not help their efficiency.
But Ngige said the two agencies should remain separate, as merging them would not solve the problems they have in the war against corruption.
He said: “The government should focus more on getting the right people to man the agencies. Furthermore, the issue of the judiciary posing as a clog in the fight against corruption has to be addressed by the AGF.
“Allowing accused persons to dictate the pace of their trials do not augur well in the fight.
“These are the areas that need attention rather than merger,” he added.
Uwazurike, who queried the difference between ICPC and EFCC, supported the consolidation of the two into one, but said if that could not be done immediately, the EFCC should be reformed in a way it does not embarrass Nigerians with ordinary arrest, which they could not prove at times.
Hon, who disagreed with the AGF on the planned merger, said the two bodies had raised the bar on the war against corruption in Nigeria.
He said the AGF premised his call for the merger of the two bodies on the faulty, not well-informed position as the slow pace of the fight against corruption was more blamable on institutional challenges like existence of obsolete laws, non-digitalisation of courts and crowded work schedule for judges.
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everydayIn separate interviews with The Guardian, four of the lawyers, including the former Secretary-General of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Chief Emeka Ngige (SAN), Port Harcourt-based Sebastine Hon (SAN), constitutional lawyers, James Ezike and Chief Anayo Uwazurike, who expressed different views on the matter, however backed the reforming of the agencies.
While Ngige and Hon did not see any need to merge the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ezike and Uwazurike said the action was long overdue but should be done through the amendment of the extant laws.
Also, the ICPC has urged President Goodluck Jonathan to strength the anti-corruption agencies and establish more of such bodies instead of merging the existing ones.
The ICPC’s Secretary, Mr. Elvis Oglafa, said this in Abuja when he received officials of Procurement Observation and Advocacy Initiative at the commission’s office.
In a statement, ICPC’s Head of Public Enlightenment Department, Mike Sowe, quoted Oglafa as saying that what was needed is a sustained attack on corruption.
Ezike, who believed that Adoke was extremely conservative and might not have appreciated the decay in the system, called for the collapsing of all agencies created for the purpose of enforcing and maintaining law into a new Nigeria police.
He said the merger should go beyond the EFCC and ICPC to include the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
According to him, though corruption had remained the nation’s biggest problem but duplication of these agencies considering our poverty, does not help their efficiency.
But Ngige said the two agencies should remain separate, as merging them would not solve the problems they have in the war against corruption.
He said: “The government should focus more on getting the right people to man the agencies. Furthermore, the issue of the judiciary posing as a clog in the fight against corruption has to be addressed by the AGF.
“Allowing accused persons to dictate the pace of their trials do not augur well in the fight.
“These are the areas that need attention rather than merger,” he added.
Uwazurike, who queried the difference between ICPC and EFCC, supported the consolidation of the two into one, but said if that could not be done immediately, the EFCC should be reformed in a way it does not embarrass Nigerians with ordinary arrest, which they could not prove at times.
Hon, who disagreed with the AGF on the planned merger, said the two bodies had raised the bar on the war against corruption in Nigeria.
He said the AGF premised his call for the merger of the two bodies on the faulty, not well-informed position as the slow pace of the fight against corruption was more blamable on institutional challenges like existence of obsolete laws, non-digitalisation of courts and crowded work schedule for judges.
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