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‘Government Should Strengthen Anti-graft Agencies’

By ALEMMA- OZIORUVA ALIU, Benin
18 April 2015   |   8:18 am
Rev. David Ugolor is the Convener, Development Alliance for the Niger Delta (DAND) he spoke to ALEMMA- OZIORUVA ALIU in Benin City on the expectations of Nigerians from the incoming government.
Ugolor

Ugolor

What advice do you have for the incoming government at various levels?
I think the President-elect General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) has said very clearly that he has zero tolerance for corruption, but how he deals with it is another thing entirely. I quite applaud his commitment and I am happy with the steps he has taken so far and I am looking forward to see the kind of cabinet that will emerge and the character of people that he is going to appoint. I also encourage that the issue of declaration of asset be taken very serious.

In dealing with the corruption issues in Nigeria, one need to deal with it through institutional approach to avoid people branding it as political.

Those corrupt elites are very powerful, they have the resources, and they have the network to organize against any credible policy.

Government can strengthen the EFCC and ICPC, deploy credible and capable people to run the agencies. With specialized court to deal with corruption cases, specialised judges will be able to deal with such cases as quickly as possible.

What about the issue of power sector?
If the petroleum sector is properly reformed through the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) once the refineries are working and gas flaring is checked, they can be converted to energy. It becomes a sustainable source of energy to the power sector and then we can have light and you know how that will impact positively on the general economy of the state.

I strongly appeal to the president-elect to deal with issue of institutional framework because it is not about just him having credibility on the table. It is about after him because if he put institutional process in place, even after him, his successor can begin to build on institutional framework. It is not just enough to build infrastructure, roads, hospitals, but once you don’t put the institutional process in place, it amounts to nothing.

We need strong institutions because once you have strong institutions in place the culture of corruption can quickly end and the systemic way of dealing with this problem can easily be resolved.

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