Group advocates capital punishment for public officers guilty of corruption

*Canvases amendment of anti-corruption law, special courts.

To tackle corruption, and its consequences and promotes national development, a Non-Governmental Organization, Africans in Diaspora for Good Legislation, has called for the application of capital punishment for public officeholders convicted of corruption charges in Nigeria.

The founder of the group, Ameh Ejeh, made the call at a round table on the amendment of the anti-corruption laws for the application of capital punishment on offenders in the public sector and their collaborators and enables in the private sector.

He lamented that corruption now runs through every level s of the government destroying the nation and causing citizens to wallow in poverty and lack hence the need for immediate actions including the setting up of special courts to try corruption cases.

Quoting the ranking of Nigeria by Transparency International, (TI), on the recent corruption index as 154th out of 180 countries, Ejeh said “Corruption runs through every level of Nigerian government today. From considerable contract fraud at the top through petty bribery, money laundering schemes, embezzlement and looting of the public treasury. In fact, it has become looting galore.

“Today in Nigeria, you do not need to look for corruption; it is corruption that is looking at you. It looks at us in police and army checkpoints littered in our highways forcefully extorting motorists and many have lost their lives in the hands of these security agencies, it is in our budgets both at the federal and state levels.”

He called for the strengthening of law-implementing institutions and others as corruption in Nigeria has become systemic due to the weakness of institutions.

The Chairman of, the House Committee on Judiciary, Onofiok Luke, stated that capital punishment may not be the ultimate answer to tackling corruption in Nigeria but rather the strengthening of institutions and a change in the political elites will to ensure that the right thing is done in government to stem corruption.

Represented by Uko Etuk, Esq, he said that even if special courts are set up to settle corruption cases, they will eventually be faced with the same challenges other courts are facing.

He said “Corruption has been the bane of development in Nigeria and the ability to achieve certain national goals and certain programs that have been hampered largely by corruption and while legislation is a good instrument for guiding human behaviour and conduct,

“Over the years, a number of laws lie the ICPC Act of 2020 that was brought into effect, the EFCC Act of 2004 and even the criminal code and even the criminal proceeds recovery and management Act of 2022 and the terrorism prevention Act 2022, among others all centered on corruption.”

Director General of the National Orientation Agency, (NOA),), Dr Garba Abari who was represented by the Deputy Director, of Legal Services, Williams Dogo, Esq, said “For us at the national orientation agency, attitudinal change and human development is the focus.”

Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba, noted some of the effects of corruption including kidnappings, embezzlement of public funds and blatant disregard for laws.

He said, “Legislation is very important to ending corruption sadly, we also suffer weak institutions.” He was represented by Mr Omosun Mathew, Esq.