The Chairman of the Human and Environmental Development Recourse Centre, Mr. Lanre Suraj, has said that corruption at the state level is double if not triple the corruption at the federal level, yet critical stakeholders often do not pay attention to or monitor the management of resources at the state level by governors.
   
He said this during a virtual press briefing to announce the activities lined up to mark the 2022 International Anti-corruption Day and International Human Rights Day on December 9 and 10.
 
According to Suraj, many states do not make available their annual budget, which does not give room for proper scrutiny of how the state finances are managed.
   
He said that in many states in Nigeria there is no accountability, with the citizens not having easy access to contract details, project cost, the company handling the project, and how much has been released to the contractor.
   
He, however, suggested that the media and civil society groups must close ranks and collaborate on pushing for states to make available their budget.
    
According to him, a compendium on high-profile corruption cases would be unveiled on December 9 to mark International Anti-corruption Day while an award named after the late Gani Fawehinmi would be held on December 10 to reward people who committed to Anti-corruption and help promote human rights.

He added that while the compendium is to sustain public awareness and a reminder of high-profile cases in Nigeria, the award is meant to motivate Nigerians to fight or kick against corruption.
   
Suraj noted that the country is spending tens of millions of naira that would have been spent on the infrastructure to investigate and prosecute corrupt politicians.  
   
He implored the media to focus on those enabling corruption in Nigeria. He added that those enabling corruption are usually professionals, who though swear to an oath to be ethical, responsible, and promote a just society.