Barely 24hours hours after the anti-corruption stance of the Nigerian government got a boost, with the conviction on Monday of Bode George, a top member of the ruling PDP, for corruption, President, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, said his administration will continue to support the total independence of the nation’s anti-corruption agencies.
According to him, that is the most enduring way to drastically reduce the menace in the country.
He also expressed his opposition to the immunity clause in the constitution, saying the level of corruption in the country is too high to let some officials escape prosecution. Mr Yar’Adua was speaking to a delegation of the Yoruba Council of Elders, who visited him at the State House, yesterday.
“The level of corruption in our country today does not justify the sustenance of the immunity clause whatever its other merits, since there is the need to make everybody accountable for all their actions.”
The President, who also said corruption required a collective effort to eradicate, said it must be fought in all facets of national life.
“We continue to support the financial and moral independence of the anti-corruption agencies, as well as try to make corruption unattractive by ensuring that anyone found guilty is sanctioned according to the law,” he said. Presently, the president, the vice-president, state governors and their deputies, enjoy immunity from prosecution while in office.
Members of the House of Representatives, recently opened a debate into the likelihood of extending this to federal and state lawmakers as well. Speaking about the nation’s future elections, the president said his administration would do everything possible to ensure reforms in the electoral process.
“I hope the new laws to be enacted from the bills I sent to the National Assembly will provide answers to the question of free and fair elections in the country,” he said.
“Our nation needs just and judicious disposal of electoral petitions, while the staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the police, other security agencies and ad-hoc electoral staff must live up to their responsibility of ensuring fair elections.
“They must understand that national political stability is a necessary anchor for peace and that conducting an election adjudged transparent by all stakeholders is a matter of national prestige.”
He said he had confidence that the judiciary was aware of areas that needed reform in the performance of their constitutional functions.
Long list from the west
Earlier, the president of the Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE), Adeyinka Adebayo, had expressed the support of his council for the Federal Government.
He also stated the council’s concerns in the areas of youth unemployment, rampant corruption, road construction and rehabilitation, need for laws institutionalizing care for the aged, and long delays in concluding electoral petitions.
Mr Adebayo, who said the YCE supported Mr Yar’Adua’s call for the removal of the immunity clause, said the nation needs a rail link between Lagos and Abuja, and a refinery in the southwest since the area consumes two-thirds of Nigeria’s petroleum products.
Oct282009