Stakeholders in the country have flayed the lingering cases of high profile hibernating corruption cases in the country, while calling for their urgent resolution.
In his remarks, the Executive Director of Citizens Centre for Integrated Development and Social Rights (CCIDESOR) Ogechi Ikeh who spoke on ‘Resolving the Unresolved High Profile Corruption Cases in Nigeria, their Impact on Current Anti corruption Efforts’, said that corruption has eaten deep into the system so much so that the third tier of government has been merged with the second tier of government.
She posited that fraud, waste and abuse of public resources are the tripod on which corruption thrives, adding that because of corruption, Nigerians have been made to be weak, unsafe, defenceless as all known human and social rights are being violated with impunity. He revealed that since 1999, over $400bn of public money has been stolen by past leaders and public officers. She hinted that it is difficult to absolve past Nigeria leaders from the mundane governance style of stealing, cheating and lying.
She noted that sometimes, the failure of institutions has also been a major problem in fighting corruption. “poverty is not a natural disaster nor tsunami, it is man-made and systemic problem’.
In his contribution, Chigozie Uzosike however called on the media to continue to raise in its reportage previous issues of unresolved corruption cases for prosecution, so that present fight against corruption can be complete and hence deterring potential offenders. He urged the media to be non-partisan to enable it do good reportage on the cases, stressing that once corruption stops in the country, the resources of the country will be well used.
He charged the media and CSOs to form collusion in fighting the menace so that the country can get better, adding that once the corruption cases are uncovered, the resources of the country will be judiciously utilized. He frowned at the fatalistic resignation that has enveloped some sectors of the society.
