Nuhu Ribadu, pioneer chairman of
the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) says there was widespread
corruption during the administration of former president Goodluck Jonathan.
He made the remark at a
convocation lecture at the Federal University Dutsin-Ma, Katsina state, on
Friday.
He also said there was “nothing
positively significant” that took place in the anti-graft war under the last
administration.
The former EFCC chairman added
Nigeria’s national resources were over the years “squandered and largely stolen
by those who had the responsibility of managing them” while oil wells were
“shared to individuals at will.”
“Years of mindless stealing and
waste of public resources has dimmed the light of prosperity that was all over
our country at Independence. Little wonder that we now find ourselves in tough
economic condition with the attendant security challenges troubling us from all
angles,” he said.
Ribadu said previous
administrations had, however, put in place stringent measures that would help
fight corruption, including the formation of relevant anti-graft agencies.
“The Obasanjo administration also
went on to evolve other institutional avenues of fighting corruption by
carrying out wide-ranging public service reform and establishing
pro-transparency agencies such as the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) and
the Nigeria Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI),” he said.
“Nothing positively significant
happened in the fight against corruption since then, until the coming of
President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015. It is instructive that the Buhari
administration rode to power on the back of its promise to tackle corruption
which was pervasive under the immediate past administration.”
‘SECURITY VOTES SHOULD BE CHECKED, JUSTICE SECTOR REFORMED’
Ribadu said for Nigeria to be
able to tackle corruption effectively, the billions of naira being spent as
security votes in the country should be checked while the justice sector should
also be reformed.
According to him, “there would
only be limited or no success in anti-corruption campaign if the justice system
is not properly sanitised to shoulder that important responsibility. Every
individual within the chain of the justice sector needs to be above board,
those who cannot uphold the basic tenets of integrity needed for such job
should be shoved aside.
“The practice of political
leaders spending humongous amounts of money in the name of security votes
should also be checked. For example, I see no reason for governors and some
other officeholders to be expending billions of
naira without budgetary provisions or accountability under the vague
code of security.”
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