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Ekweremadu urges civil society groups to support anti-corruption fight

By Otei Oham and Segun Olaniyi, Abuja
20 October 2016   |   4:14 am
Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu yesterday sought active collaboration of civil society groups in National Assembly’s efforts to tackle corruption.
Chairman, House Committee on Anti-Corruption, Jide Akinloye (left); Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye; Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu and Director, Civil Society Network Against Corruption, Olanrewaju Suraju during the second day of the National Conference on the Role of the Legislature in the Fight Against Corruption in Abuja. PHOTO: LUCYLADIDI ELUKPO.

Chairman, House Committee on Anti-Corruption, Jide Akinloye (left); Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye; Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu and Director, Civil Society Network Against Corruption, Olanrewaju Suraju during the second day of the National Conference on the Role of the Legislature in the Fight Against Corruption in Abuja. PHOTO: LUCYLADIDI ELUKPO.

Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu yesterday sought active collaboration of civil society groups in National Assembly’s efforts to tackle corruption.

At the end of a conference on the role of the legislature in the fight against graft, organised by the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC) and the joint Senate and House of Representatives committee on the issue which opened in Abuja on Tuesday, Ekweremadu said there was need for the two bodies to collaborate and strengthen their checks and balances mechanism in tackling the scourge.

He said: “Some of the problems we have in the fight against corruption in the past was that they are heavily tainted.

“It is important that both the National Assembly and the civil society groups must also hold government accountable in being just, equitable and fair to all concerns so that everybody can key in into the fight against corruption because once there is a perceived case of a justice and a perceived case of nepotism in the fight against corruption, we are going to see that the whole thing will be tainted and then we won’t get there.”

Deputy Chief Whip of the House, Pally Iriase, who urged parents to inculcate morality in their children as a way of discouraging them from indulging in any form of corrupt practice, enjoined schools to incorporate civic education in their curricula for the benefit of the younger generation.

Also, All Progressives Congress (APC) Whip, Ogun State House of Assembly, Adebowale Ojuri, said that constituency projects should be considered as dividends of elections, not democracy.

He said the execution of the projects for citizens was the only way lawmakers could be appreciated and granted tickets to represent the people.

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