*Rates Nigeria low on corruption perception index

*Describes release of Dariye, Nyame as ‘major setback to corruption fight’

*Says corrupt government officials giving Nigeria a bad name

The coalition of anti-corruption Civil Society Organisations, (CSOs), under the auspice of Transparency International, (TI), have blamed growing insecurity and the infiltration of arms into Nigeria through the borders on corruption and connivance of public officials in the country.

Presenting the 2022 Corruption Perception Index, (CPI), of TI yesterday in Abuja, the group said corruption in Nigeria persists despite the government’s anti-corruption war claims leading to growing insecurity due to compromise at the borders among others.

Executive Director, of the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Center, (CISLAC), Auwal Musa-Rafsanjani, noted that even though the executive arm of government through President Muhammadu Buhari is making the pronouncement that they are interested in the fight against corruption, the other arms of government appear not to be on the same page with the executive arm.

According to him, security has long been compromised on Nigeria’s borders because there is a nexus between corruption and security which is why the nation is witnessing a lot of infiltration of arms.

“Corruption continues to undermine every single effort of even the government. We have seen how as a result of corruption in the security sector lives have become worthless in this country. Because some people have compromised, people come with arms and ammunition into the country. How comes, where are the customs, where are the officials responsible such that all these dangerous

“Even within the executive arm of government, you will see that some of the ministers, director generals and other top government officials are not probably having the same zeal to fight corruption and that is why the Nigerian CSOs have struggled to ensure that we have a national strategy on the fight against corruption so that we involve everyone in playing a role to compliment the efforts in the fight against corruption,” he said.

Musa-Rafsanjani said “We are deeply worried and concerned that in spite of claims by our government that it is fighting corruption, sadly corruption continues to be a major problem in Nigeria and we are not surprised because the issue of corruption discussions has remained largely at the federal level.

“We have the local governments, we have the states and the federal government and when you are looking at corruption in the country, you look at all these tiers of government. And within the structure of the government, we have the executive, the legislative and the judiciary therefore ideally; they must all be on the same page complimenting one another to fight against corruption.”

Presenting the TI corruption index, Senior Legal Officer, CISLAC, Samuel Asimi, said while Nigerian moved four places up the CPI country ranking from 154 in 2021 to 150 out of 180 countries in 2022, it maintains 24 points out of hundred, the same as the preceding year, 2021. According to him, this implies that corruption has continued to remain the same in Nigeria, not increasing and not reducing.

While calling for improved resolve on the part of anti-corruption agencies, Country Director of Accountability Lab, Friday Odeh, said the federal government’s fight against corruption suffered a setback due to the release of former governors Jolly Nyame and Joshua Dariye of Taraba and Plateau states respectively.

He said “the pardoning of certain individuals like Jolly Nyame and Joshua Dariye by the current administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, who rode t power on the back of promises to fight corruption and has continued with his anti-corruption rhetoric, is a major setback in the effort to address corruption in Nigeria.

“This singular act of pardoning these individuals is damaging as it fails the test of equity and fairness as those pardoned were politically exposed persons and the poor citizens who have been jailed for similar crimes or even lesser offences were left out of the pardon. This not only dampens the confidence of citizens but also weakens the morale of anti-graft agencies and sends a negative message to the international community.”