A Nigerian NGO Monday petitioned the anti-graft Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) asking it to urgently launch an investigation into the allegation that an Italian construction company built a 2,500-capacity church in President Goodluck Jonathan’s home town as a ‘gift’ to him. President Jonathan had been quoted by the local media as saying, at the inauguration of the church, that the Managing Director of Gitto Construzioni Generali Nigeria Limited (GCG) made him a promise to build and donate the church to Otuoke community after he (the president) had complained about the aging structure of his church.
But in a petition dated 2 April 2012, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) said: “We are seriously concerned that given the huge sum of money involved and the timing of the church building ‘gift’, the acts may amount to a bribe to the government by a construction company that has sought and obtained huge contracts from the federal government.
“Procurement and investment agreements corrupted by this kind of ‘gift’ invariably lead to increased costs not only in higher prices but also in needlessly expanded and ultimately inefficient projects,” the organization said.
According to the organization, “both the acts of giving and accepting the disguised bribe undermine the institutions and values of democracy, ethical values and justice, and jeopardizes sustainable development and the rule of law. The acts also hurt the government and ordinary Nigerians who may suffer as a result of bad execution of projects by GCG.”
The organization also asked the Commission to “exert its mandate, power, and resources to ensure that the allegations are fully and effectively investigated the findings of the investigation published and the company and other suspected perpetrators held liable.
“Foreign bribery is a crime even if the briber would have been awarded a contract or business advantage. It is therefore very important that the Commission sends a strong message that it is willing and able to step up its efforts to detect, investigate and prosecute cases of bribery in international business deals,” SERAP said.
It said the allegations violate Section 6 of the Code of Conduct for Public officers embodied in the First Schedule of the 1999 Constitution and the Code of Conduct and Tribunal Act (CAP C15) Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004, which provides that, “a public officer shall not ask for or accept any property or benefits of any kind for himself or any other person on account of anything done or omitted to be done by him in the discharge of his duties.
‘The allegations also constitute a breach of national anti-corruption legislation and the UN Convention against Corruption to which Nigeria is a party,” SERAP said.
PANA reports that a local newspaper, Thisday, on Monday wrote an editorial condemning the ‘gift’
‘Whatever the motivation for this benevolence on the part of Gitto, we find it very disturbing indeed that the president could openly justify this sort of gift from a private company, whose various activities in the country have been mired in controversies.
‘Using the authority of a public position to secure gifts is unacceptable for a president anywhere in the world and the code of conduct for public officials in Nigeria expressly forbids such,’ the paper wrote in the editorial, entitled ‘A most questionable gift.’