Corruption Persists Despite Buhari’s Efforts, Admit SGF, Sagay
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Boss Mustapha and the Chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN), Tuesday admitted that corruption persists despite all the efforts made by the administration to check menace.
Speaking at an event on ‘Strengthening the Anti-Corruption Agenda: Ensuring Accountability and Transparency’’, organised by the Centre for Democracy and Development, Mustapha said the war against corruption is yet to be won even though some successes have been recorded.
The SGF who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Special Services, Amina Shamaki, however said that the Muhammadu Buhari administration has recorded “unprecedented level of successes” since it started the war in 2015.
He said, “Nonetheless, we should not rest on our oars with the illusion that the war has been won despite the level of the successes I have enumerated. While the fight has been very successful in tackling monumental corruption, less grandeur cases are perceived and even reported.
“While the government has displayed uncommon courage to relieve its appointees especially, in its agencies, of their positions and responsibilities, there still exist some level of infractions on Public Procurement Act, and other laws. These tend to diminish the efforts of government in this direction”.
He called for an innovative legislations by the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation to to check continued acts of corruption in Ministries and departments.
According to him, there was the need to check the roles played by audit departments in aiding and abetting corruption in ministries.
He added, “I should like to see the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation come up with innovative policies and measures to empower auditors to halt any payment that is clearly in breach of Public Procurement Act, Financial Regulations, Public Service Rules in particular, and other laws, in general.
“For such auditors that compromise, or are complicit, such policies and measures should isolate them for disciplinary action which should not preclude prosecution”.
Sagay on the other hand added that corruption has led to “deaths on the roads, deaths at hospitals, deaths at maternity facilities, follow and militants, kidnappers, armed robbers, murders, suicides are also a direct product of this Nigerian culture.’’
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