By Adetunji Ayobrown
Strong institutions against poverty has been described as the only antidote to tackle the deadly inequality created by greed the few among us.
Mostly manmade, poverty was pronounced as the bane of insecurity bedeviling the Nigeria nation. As it has pushed a lot of people including young and old, male or female into doing many wrong means in the name of survival.
This view was stated by Hon Bagos Dachung, Deputy Chairman House Committee on Anti-Corruption and member representing Jos South/Jos East federal constituency of Plateau state during a live interview.
He said “a high level of unemployment ratio with very high level of indebtedness and high level of extreme poverty are indices which clearly shown that in the next twenty years corruption in country will be higher”.
“When there is no system to check infrastructural development deficiency, unemployment ratio, extreme poverty and national indebtedness, fighting corruption would only achieve nothing. Because whosoever found his or her way into the office will only enrich themselves grab all he or she can while another awaits his or her turn”.
“The system, the foundation of our national institutions is not corrected, whatever is built on it will not stand. We should go back to the drawing board”.
“Let referred back and look at our last budgets, what are those needed items that are not there to make stronger Nigeria governments’ institutions”.
Bagos said, “dropped to 149, Transparency International now ranked Nigeria, a country with a big challenge with its anticorruption legal framework”. He said, “interferences from highly placed government officials is responsible for the weak fight against corruption”.
“In one of our proposals, we recommend that heads of EFCC, ICPC and other anti-corruption agencies should not be presidential nominations. A president who is a politician, such decisions may not eventually be taken by him but his aides tele-guiding them.
“Indirect political interference will definitely tamper some level of investigations is very keen”.
He further said that “as part of the system, with some investigations coming to the table, I know that any of the heads of the anticorruption agency must obey some instructions from above. Else he or she would be frustrated out of office”.
“That is the bane of anticorruption cases lasting in the courts for about 10 to 20 years or even more, just because somebody somewhere can easily interfere”.
“Public and civil society organisations can independently look at the nomination in appointments of heads of our anticorruption agencies in order to allow efficiency and effectiveness so that corruption can be nibbed in the bud, Bagos added.
