Group launches 100 Compendium of high profile corruption cases in Nigeria

 

Razaq Bamidele

A right organization, the Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA), has condemned the increase of corruption cases in Nigeria despite concerted efforts of the Federal Government to nail the monster through various anti-graft agencies!

Chairman of the organization, Comrade Olanrewaju Suraju made the observation in Lagos Wednesday, while speaking at the launch of a compendium of 100 high profile corruption cases in Nigeria,.

The occasion was part of activities lined up to celebrate the world anti-corruption day, which comes up December 9 annually.

Suraju expressed sadness that the corrupt people had gone to the extent of compromising the judiciary and the media to ensure that allegations of corruption against them were kept secret, through perpetual injunctions to frustrate the cases from being treated in court.

The HEDA noted with a heavy heart that it was worrisome that some corruption cases had been in court for more than 15 years, and therefore making some witness to lose interest in going to court to testify, while some had even died, making the allegations against such cases dead.

On the danger of corruption to the society, the Dean of Faculty of Law, University of Lagos, Professor Ayo Atsenuwa, likened corruption to a pandemic not limited to Nigeria, lamenting that the monster had led to high rate of unemployment, inflation and insecurity in the country.

According to the don, who was represented by Dr. Dayo Ayoade, corruption has been a major deterrent to investments in the country, regretting that “intellectual resources on the fight against corruption in Nigeria is low and not as deep as it should be.”

He, however, posited that there was the need for government to do a lot more on intellectual resources on the fight against corruption.

The don further said it was disheartening that out of several people accused of corrupt practices, only few of them had been brought to book, but observed that writing the compendium would always afford the public to keep tracks of mind-boggling corruption cases in the country.

In addition, Atsenuwa stated that the compendium would also afford the public to have knowledge of how corruption cases were being fought by the anti-graft agencies, including the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The reviewer of the publication, Mr Adeola Soetan, agreed that though, corruption practices had been with the country for some time, he quickly added that “What we experience now is supersonic corruption, that is corruption with impunity.”

The war against corrupt practices in Nigeria, according to him, had not been successfully fought as it ought to be, therefore resulting in Nigeria being rated as the 34th most corrupt country in the world by Transparency International (TI).

While also noting that it was saddening that corruption had become endemic and contagious in the country, lamented that most corrupt cases were frustrated through technicalities and injunctions which made the affected cases to be delayed in court longer than expected.

He expressed worries about the legacy being left for the upcoming generation, just as he, commended the author for documenting the high profile corruption cases in the country, urging Nigerians to take ownership of the fight against the menace by seeing it as dangerous to the society.

“We must take ownership of the fight against corruption in the country, we must see it as a danger to the society,” Soetan submitted emphatically.