The Chartered Institute of Forensics and Certified Fraud Examiners of Nigeria (CIFCFEN) has advocated the establishment of ‘Hall of Shame’ for corrupt public officials as a way of stemming corruption in the country.

This was disclosed at the combined graduation ceremony of CIFFCEN 5th  Proficiency Training, 3rd Direct Membership Training and 1st Fraud Examination Training at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Academy, Karu, Abuja which had 93 graduands. Chairman, Professional Training and Standards, Prof. Michael Ayeni, canvassed the establishment of a ‘Hall of Shame’ in the six geo-political zones of the country to expose officials who through their corrupt practices have impoverished Nigerians.

Explaining the concept of the ‘Hall of sham’, the Chairman, CIFCFEN, Dr. Iliyasu Gashinbaki, said the Institute intends to have a physical ‘Hall of Shame’ where the pictures and history of such convicted people will be displayed and more importantly “we will have the digital version of the Hall of Shame which means everywhere across the world you will be able to access that digitally.”
 
He said,“for now our ‘Hall of Shame’ or the publications will be restricted to the people that have been convicted but at the same time, filing in courts are also public documents, so, we will also be very current in following up criminal cases that are being prosecuted as far as corruption in the public sector and high level corruption in the private sector are concerned.”   

He said the ‘Hall of Shame’ is needed at this point to complement efforts of prosecuting agencies and making it a shameful affair in this country. “For prosecuting agencies once you are convicted their job ends there. “In spite of efforts to ensure that people do not celebrate corruption, we have a situation now in this country where corrupt politicians and people that had either been convicted or undergoing trial are still been given chieftaincy titles and contesting for positions. So, we should have that ‘Hall of Shame’ that anybody associated with corruption, the name and details of such persons should be placed there and the Institute is going to create that.”

He reeled out troubling statistics on the effect of corruption on the global economy: “The Gross Domestic Product of Africa was pegged at 2.6 trillon US dollars as at 2021 while global fraud is estimated to be 3.6 times the entire GDP of Africa and 3000 times the United Nations budget of 3.12 billion US dollars for 2022”.  
 
Continuing, he stated: “The world is losing 9 trillion US dollars at 10 percent of global GDP of 170 International Monetay Fund countries to illicit financial flows, drugs and crimes and massive corruption, with Nigeria particularly losing billions to corrupt practices.”

On why the Hall of Shame must be established in Nigeria, Gashinbaki said:“In Europe and the US when you are found to be corrupt, you go to jail. In China, you will be killed and in Japan corrupt people kill themselves. But in Nigeria, when you are found to be corrupt or convicted you are celebrated either by your kinsmen or given chieftaincy title.
 
“ Some even contest for public office. So, we want to reverse that ugly trend so that we make corruption as something unpleasant and obnoxious,” he said.