Press
Statement
The Zero
Corruption Coalition today marked the International Anti-Corruption Day with a
call on the federal and state governments to make special efforts to detect
corruption in their businesses in order to achieve meaningful
development.
International Anti-Corruption Day is a time for political
leaders, governments, legal bodies and CSOs groups to work together against
corruption by promoting the day and the issues that surround this event. On
this day anti-corruption advocates organize events to engage the general public
to effectively fight against corruption and fraud in communities.
Corruption
is an issue that affects all countries around the world. It can refer to the
destruction of one’s honesty or loyalty through undermining moral integrity or
acting in a way that shows a lack of integrity or honesty. It also refers to
those who use a position of power or trust for dishonest gain.
Corruption
undermines democracy, creates unstable governments, and sets countries back
economically. Corruption comes in various forms such as bribery, law-breaking
without dealing with the consequences in a fair manner, unfairly amending
election processes and results, and covering mistakes or silencing
whistleblowers (those who expose corruption in hope that justice would be
served).
By resolution
58/4 of October 31, 2003, the UN General Assembly designated December 9 as
International Anti-Corruption Day. This decision aimed to raise people’s
awareness of corruption and of the role of the United Nations Convention
against Corruption in combating and preventing it.
The solution to Preventing
and combating corruption requires a comprehensive approach, but only in a
climate of transparency, accountability and participation by all members of
society. Such as; governments, the private sector, the media, civil society
organizations and the general public need to work together to curb this crime.
Recently, the
Swiss Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Hans Hodel, said “his country had discharged
its legal obligations to Nigeria by returning all the Abacha loot, estimated at
more than $700 million dollars. We must praise the cooperation extended to
Nigeria since 1999 by the Swiss government to return the Abacha loot.
Seven
hundred million dollars (about N112bn) is not small money by any standard
anywhere. This heavy cash would have dealt with basic challenges of good
healthcare or education in Nigeria. In fact, in a country where public office
holders are accountable, such recovered funds could have made a significant
impact on the socio/economic well-being of the citizens”.
According to Global
Integrity Group, a Washington-based corruption monitoring organization, $129
billion was “fraudulently transferred out of Nigeria in 10 years.” Converted
into naira, this figure stands at N20.6 trillion stolen from Nigeria by public
office holders in 10 years.
However,
corruption is a crime against development which thrives in the shadows.
International Anti-Corruption Day is an opportunity to shed light on the damage
it does, and to reaffirm our commitment to act against it. The impact of
corruption is greater than just the diversion of resources - significant as
this is.
Corruption is also corrosive of societies and contributes to a
justified lack of trust and confidence in governance. The worst consequences of
corruption are borne by poor and vulnerable groups. Bribes, for example, can
make basic services available only to those able to pay.
As
the poor are more reliant on public services, they are disproportionately
harmed by what may be, in financial terms, small-time corruption. Research
suggests that poor women are often the worst affected by corruption. The poor
also have the most to lose from rapid degradation of natural resources stemming
from corruption which enables laws and regulations to be circumvented. Illegal
logging to which corrupt officials turn a blind eye, for example, can threaten
the ecosystems on which poor people depend for their livelihoods, and lead to
revenue losses for governments too.
Anti-corruption
measures need to be integrated into development planning processes. The
development partner’s work on governance around the country aims to strengthen
the national institutions and processes needed to build trust, improve
responsiveness and accountability, and mobilize resources for development.
Taking back what was lost to corrupt practices is everyone's responsibility -
governments and civil society organizations, the private sector and the media,
the general public, and youth who will play a pivotal role in seeing this
agenda through so that their future is built on solid and honest foundations.
ZCC
therefore is demanding as follows:
1. That President Goodluck Jonathan should not only take note, but also take a
stand and live by example on the fight against corruption in the country by "Breaking the
corruption chain ".
2. We are
calling on Mr. President to declare his asset as
reference to other public officers in Nigeria.
3. That
government must take strong measures to prevent corruption in our country by
adopting the draft strategy to combat corruption in Nigeria, so that it will
serve as working policy document.
4. That
government must cut down waste and duplication of resources as contained in our
budget as a measure of detecting corruption risks in governance.
5. We are
calling on the government of President Jonathan to see to meeting the basic
needs of Nigerians by prioritizing and demonstrate its expressed commitment to
fight corruption.
6. That
as a matter of seriousness urgently ensuring the effective prosecution of those
suspected of massive corruption in the fuel subsidy reports
7. That
all outstanding corruption reports, including the House Committee report on the
subsidy racket must be fully implemented and perpetrators effectively punished.
8. We
therefore, call on Nigerian government to exercise full-fledged transparency
and accountability by publicly declare all the looted sums returned to Nigeria
government following their repatriation and set up appropriate committee
including credible Civil Society Organizations to ensure judicious utilization
of the fund for maximum benefit of the country so the funds do not get
recycled.
Signed:
Auwal
Ibrahim Musa (Rafsanjani)
Chair,
Steering Committee Zero Corruption Coalition
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