Professor of Law at Abia State University, Uturu (ABSU), Professor Hagler Okorie, has posited that confirmed/convicted corrupt public officers in the country should deserve to be sentenced to life imprisonment.

He recommended this while delivering the 79th inaugural lecture of the university yesterday, which had the topic “Legal Intersection Between Armed Conflict, Other Situations of Violence (OSVs) and Mercantilism in Nigeria: The Need To Make Corruption A Crime Against Humanity,” stating that “the country cannot make headway if corruption is allowed to continue.”

He held that unless a special court is established to try and prosecute corrupt public officers within a month, corruption will kill the country, warning of an impending danger if nothing is done to curb corruption.

He defined corruption as “depravity, perversion, or taint and impairment of integrity, virtue, or moral principle; the act of doing something with an intent to give some advantage inconsistent with official duty and the rights of others, to procure some benefit either personally or for someone else, contrary to the rights of others.”

He similarly stated the World Bank definition of corruption as “the abuse of public office for private gains, including public office being abused for private gain when an official accepts, solicits, or extorts a bribe.”

In chapter three of his twelve-chapter, 174-page inaugural lecture, Professor Hagler stated that though corruption is regarded as the abuse of public office for personal gains, “this is done when an official accepts, solicits, or extorts a bribe,” adding that public office is also abused when private agents actively offer bribes to circumvent public policies and processes for competitive advantage and profit.
“And it can also be abused for personal benefits, even if no bribery occurs, through nepotism and clannishness, the theft of state assets, or the diversion of state revenues.”

According to him, corruption in Nigeria has been responsible for the pernicious enervation of government and governance, whether military or democratic, since independence, adding, “corruption engenders the occurrence of conflicts involving large-scale organised violence.
“This is because of how endemic corruption is and the various attacks it has on the life, progress, and development of the state, and it has robbed the state of peace and progress, unity, and harmony.”

He revealed some of his research findings, include that armed conflict and other situations of violence in Nigeria are a business machine and money-minting factory for politicians, top military officers, insurgents, and bandits who engage in them.

Politicians and top military officers who loot the resources allocated to security are not arrested, and even when they are, they compromise both the anti-corruption agency and the justice system, thereby perpetuating impunity.

Professor Hagler posited that the only remedy to fight impunity is by expanding the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, so as to make corruption a crime against humanity, among his other findings.
“It is therefore insufficient to continue treating corruption as an economic or administrative offence,” and he concluded that an urgent need arises for Nigeria, and indeed the international community, to reframe corruption not as an isolated offence, but as an enabler of mass human suffering.
“By criminalising corruption at the level of crimes against humanity, law can respond more adequately to the unique challenges posed by its intersection with armed conflict and mercantilism, thereby promoting sustainable peace, security, and development.”

The ABSU Vice Chancellor, Professor Ndukwe Okeudo, who presided over the inaugural lecture session, described an inaugural lecture as “a time of intellectual harvest when professors showcase their findings for the world to know.”

According to the VC, the country is not presently in the best of times because of insecurity and corruption; hence, he commended Professor Okorie for using his lecture to proffer solutions to the problems of insecurity and corruption bedevilling the country.