Gift Wada
The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, CISLAC, and 29 other Civil Society Organizations have expressed worries over trivialization of the fight against Corruption observed in the administration of president Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“The newly sworn-in President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu does not seem to have the issue of anti-corruption as a priority on his agenda, despite the fact that corruption has eaten deeper into every sector of our society and is crippling the country like an epidemic,” Auwal Rafsanjani, Executive Director CISLAC noted.
Rafsanjani during a press briefing held on Tuesday argued that, from his campaigns to his manifesto, the President has not shown to Nigerians his anti-corruption agenda and clear plans on how his administration intends to fight corruption.”
Hence he urged Tinubu to publicly and immediately declare commitment to the fight against corruption with a view to give confidence to Nigerians and international community as well as investors, that “his government is not going to be populated with crooks, criminals and people with allegations of corruption and people who have bought their ways and capture power for personal use.”
The coalition further urged the President to improve and strengthen the autonomy, independence and institutional capacity of state-level anti-corruption agencies and create better synergy between them and their counterparts at the federal level.
They recommended that the National Assembly fast tracks the process of reviewing the obsolete current audit act to empower the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation in discharging his duty.
Rafsanjani said Nigeria will make no substantive progress without blocking the multiple black holes representing avenues for theft, misappropriation, diversion, and waste of public resources.
He said “No amount of touch-and-go interventions can curb the complex web of corruption and impunity currently hobbling democracy and governance in Nigeria.
“While we recognize that our asks require political negotiations and time, we are confident that they are doable with the total commitment of the new administration,” he noted