Vice-President-elect, Prof.Yemi Osinbajo, on Friday explained how the Muhammadu Buhari administration would prosecute the anti-graft war, saying that Nigerians must question sources of wealth of the rich.
Osinbajo, while delivering the keynote address at the Abuja edition of The Platform, said the incoming administration would ensure zero tolerance for corruption by reforming the Justice system.
He said within the last few years, what the country had experienced is a situation where people get away with corrupt practices, noting that going forward, the incoming government would make sure that corrupt people suffer the consequences of their action.
He said when people are made to suffer the consequences of corrupt practices, it would send a strong message to everyone that the era of looting of the treasury was over.
He said, “We have always talked about zero tolerance for corruption but it is also important that people are made to understand that there will be consequence for corruption.
“What we have seen so far is that there is hardly any consequence and people simply get away with it and if you get away with it often, it sends a message to everyone, that there is no problem, and we need to fix that whole thinking that there has to be a consequence for corrupt practices.
“People have to explain for instance, if you are a public servant that how come that you have 50 houses. Somebody needs to ask you those questions and some of the reasons people get away with that is our criminal justice system.”
He said in view of the fact that the incoming administration would be taking the fight against corruption seriously, one of the reforms that would first be carried out is in the judicial system.
The Vice-President elect said the nation’s judicial system as presently constituted was slow, adding that this has made it easy for people to get away with criminal acts.
He said, ” Our criminal justice system needs to be fixed. The system is slow and it almost always ensures that people who have been charged with offenses would not be tried forever and after a while people forget that people are being tried.
“We have to fix that criminal justice system to ensure that criminal trials are speedy and that anyone who is guilty of an offense will be punished for that offense.
In the area of policing, Osibajo said a country as big as that of Nigeria needs community policing.
He said it would be difficult for the Nigerian Police Force in its present form to fight crime in an effective manner owing to what he described as structural problems.
He said, “We need to look at law and order. The question of policing our society, how do we police this country. At the moment we know that policing is ineffective.
“If the police wants to deal with the criminals, you and I know that they are hampered from doing so, they are hampered structurally, they are hampered by the fact that they are not as well equipped as they ought to be, and they are not resourced as they ought to be, but the structural problem is the major one.
“A country of this size needs some form of community policing because criminality is always local, we need to have policemen who understand the local language, who live in the community, who understand the language. So there is a logic in it to have community policing.”
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God bless VP-Elect, your sound thinking for me was what made me realize the Change platform can become a reality
ReplyDeleteStart this anti-corruption war from the Jagaban himself..
ReplyDeleteThank you VP, Tinibu must be asked how he became billionaire after holding public office
ReplyDeleteImagine, the man who brokered all Tinubu's 10% deals with the LASG asking us to question sources of wealth? For sure we will, and not just for the last few years, we will go back to 1999 or as far back as we desire. Corruption in Nigeria didn't start in may 2010
ReplyDeleteDid he broker the 10% LASG tax deal? He was Attorney General of Lagos State at that time. I think we should ask the State Finance Commissioner under Tinubu. The issue with that deal is that it gives Tinubu 10%, not just of the taxes he helps collect, but also of the PAYE in which he has no hand in collecting. A 10% fee for debt collectors is standard globally, but for him to also have 10% of what he does not collect is obscene and a systemic rip-off of Lagosians.
DeleteI have never been this Hopeful that Nigeria is on a path to glory. I watch Osibajo speaking @PlatformNg yestade,i had goose pimples. I'm. So sure that if all what was said could be done,we will have a great Nation. People let keep focus on better Nigeria to come. God bless y'all
ReplyDeleteNice statement. But let the prosecution go around starting with the politicians benefitting from power failure/ importation of generators, and those benefitting from security lapses. Please let the prosecution also be meted to incoming cabinet members, so that all will desist from corruption against masses. ekene madubogwu says.
ReplyDeleteAt times I wonder if some commentators here are Nigerians at all. We personalize every issue. Th incoming VP has raise a very important issue here and instead of us to join hand with the govt and move our nation forward. The only contribution they can made is to personalize it forgetting that everyone has its own dirty past. Please join the present govt to move our country forward
ReplyDeleteThis message sounds quite good and hopeful for the new Nigeria that is to come. But my worry is if the VP would have the supports of the executives to actually get judiciary to properly undertake their responsibilities in line with best practice. If I may sugguest the Senoir pastor Tunde Bakari should head the EFCC as chairman to put corruption behinde the mind of Nigerians. He has the can do ability to squarely execute the task with results.
ReplyDeleteA lot needs to be in place before we can track peoples' wealth and raise the red flag against the thieves. First is that every citizen must have the banks BVN or the National Identity Card which uniquely identifies everyone. Then you must compel everyone to declare their assets. These are the starting point for a sophisticated system that would track the growth of each person's wealth. Without this, Nigerians would quickly tribalise and politicise the issue. When the government zeroes in on a Yoruba man as living above his legitimate income, Yorubas will tribalise it and point to a Fulani man who is doing same. It is sad, but that is the way we are - we tribalise and politicise crime and are quick to point at others who commit the same crime. Tha fact is that every criminal, regardless of his tribe, religion or political leaning, is a legitimate target to commence the clean-up.
ReplyDelete