After assessing the anti-graft agencies, stakeholders have faulted their methods of fighting corruption. They suggested ways the agencies can enhance their performance. Assistant Editor LEKE SALAUDEEN writes.
Stakeholders have faulted the Federal Government’s anti-corruption strategy, saying the approach is responsible for its limited success. They have identified the problems that require urgent attention, if the fight is to achieve its objectives.
For instance, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) said the framework for anti-corruption crusade is defective in structure and does not make for effectiveness of the anti-graft agencies. The NBA believes that a lot needs to be done to improve the general institutional framework for the campaign.
NBA President, Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN), said: “Though some successes have been recorded, especially with the advent of the whistle-blowing policy, it must be remembered that reliance on the new policy is a signal that the policing and anti-crime agencies are weak.”
The leadership of the National Assembly also complained that the anti-graft war was not addressing the fundamental issues. Senate President Bukola Saraki described the anti-corruption fight as sensational and selective, while the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, said the war was only dealing with the symptoms of corruption.
Other stakeholders, such as lawyers, also share similar views. Legal luminary, Femi Falana (SAN), for instance, has identified the limited capacity of the anti-graft agencies as a major problem retarding the success of the crusade. He observed that the agencies are understaffed and overwhelmed.
Falana said the Independent Corrupt Practices & Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) receives an average of 100 petitions daily and that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) even gets many more from the public. Yet, the EFCC leadership inherited about 2,173 staff. Even with the plan to engage 750 more staff, the EFCC will still have less than 3,000 staff. The implication is that with such limited number of investigators and prosecutors, the success rate of the agency is bound to be extremely poor.
He said: “Without adequate funding of the anti-graft agencies and motivation of investigators and prosecutors, many more corruption cases are going to be lost to accused persons who have access to well-prepared and well-paid team of lawyers.
“The British government spent millions of pounds on the investigation and prosecution of a former governor in Nigeria. If the Federal Government is genuinely desirous of winning corruption cases, it should be prepared to invest in the anti-graft agencies. As a matter of urgency, the government should immediately set aside part of the recovered loot to fund the investigation and prosecution of corruption cases.”
Falana also canvassed autonomy for the agencies. The senior advocate said the agencies should be free from executive control and interference, to properly discharge their statutory functions. He said his plea for autonomy is coming against the backdrop of a report that the EFCC submitted on the investigation of the criminal diversion of N19 billion from the London/Paris Club loan refund by some governors and other reports of serious economic crimes to the Presidency.
He said: “It is my submission that the practice of submitting reports of investigation of economic crimes to the Presidency or any other authority should stop, because it is not provided for under the EFCC Act. It is not even in the interest of the Presidency, as it may give the impression that the anti-graft agencies are being used to settle political scores.”
Another lawyer, Malam Yusuf Ali (SAN), agrees with Falana. He said for the anti-graft agencies to perform, they have to be strengthened in terms of human capacity and deployment of high tech. He said the operatives of the agencies should be above board, in terms of their integrity. He said: “The public perception is that some of those fighting corruption are not clean; they are not wholesome and they are not supposed to be there; the job is meant for credible people that can account for what they have.”
However, Ali disagreed on the issue of autonomy. He said there cannot be full autonomy for the agencies, because they are appointed by someone. He added: “It is the character of those running the agencies that matters; they should not take directives from anybody. They should know that they owe allegiance to Nigeria; the absence of this explains why our institutions are weak.”
The legal practitioner said the success of the anti-corruption crusade lies on the political will of the government. He said where there are sacred cows, as in the current effort, because the leadership is shielding some people, the crusade is bound to fail. Falana agrees. He said: “The government too has joined the forces of corruption by frustrating the anti-graft agencies from prosecuting indicted public officers. Even though the government has repeatedly assured the Nigerian people that there are no sacred cows in the fight against corruption, the Presidency has casually dismissed serious allegations of corruption and abuse of office levelled against certain public office holders.
“For instance, when a serving minister was implicated in the report of the procurement of arms and ammunition, the Federal Government claimed that the probe panel had not concluded its assignment. Was the panel not disbanded thereafter? When a top army officer was accused of buying properties beyond his legitimate income, did the Code of Conduct Bureau not absolve him without conducting any investigation? When the Senate indicted the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Babachir David Lawal, over his involvement in the criminal diversion of about N200 million set aside to cut grass in the camps of internally displaced persons in the Northeast region, did the Federal Government not say he was not given fair hearing?”
On the loss of corruption cases, Falana said the EFCC lost its trained and committed personnel when it was taken over by powerful criminal suspects in connivance with a former Attorney General of the Federation (AGF). Under the pretext of fighting corruption, in line with the rule of law, they castrated the EFCC; it is going to take some time to rebuild the commission, because the damage is enormous, the lawyer said.
Lawyer and public affairs analyst Mr Monday Ubani also observed that the framework for the anti–corruption fight is weak. He called for a review of the existing laws and a comprehensive law that would tackle corruption at all strata. He said the anti-graft war is concentrated on political elites, leaving out the civil servants that collect bribes for services offered on daily basis. He said: “For you to obtain a Nigerian passport, you must pay extra amount to immigration officials to facilitate the processing of your application; to get driver’s licence, you must bribe the Federal Road Safety Corps; to clear your luggage at the air and sea ports, you must offer gratification to the Customs officers.”
On why the EFFC have lost series of corruption cases recently, the second National Vice President of the NBA said if the prosecution failed to lay his evidence properly before the court, the case will be thrown out. The judge can also strike out cases for lack of evidence and diligent prosecution. He advised the EFCC and other anti graft agencies to engage competent hands to handle investigations and experienced lawyers to prosecute.
Ubani declared his support for the Buhari administration anti-corruption crusade when he said: “I am totally in support of the government in anti-graft war; we must nip corruption in bud; we should not allow it to kill Nigeria; it is a hydra-headed monster that must be tackled. The EFCC should bite. Ibrahim Magu is giving it teeth. If there are deficiencies in the law setting up the anti-corruption agencies, the management should complain to have them reviewed.
“We should build a system that will sustain the fight against corruption, like it is being done in advanced democracies. We should involve people in the fight and that is why I like the whistle-blowing policy of this administration. Since it was introduced, the EFCC has made many discoveries of looted funds. The policy is working, because people are carried along by the government in its anti-corruption crusade.”
But, the Chairman of Presidential Advisory Committee on Corruption, Professor Itse Sagay (SAN), disagreed with the opinion of his colleagues that the framework of anti-corruption crusade is defective. He said: “People saying this and rejoicing over this statement are ignorant; they didn’t find out what we are doing; they did not know what the framework is and what the anti-graft agencies are doing.”
Sagay insists that there is nothing wrong with the framework, because the agencies are doing an excellent job. He said: “We are the think-tank of the anti-corruption agencies; we supply them information on what to do and how to go about fighting corruption. Corruption has retarded our socio-economic growth; it is a destructive force. The anti-corruption agencies are determined to reduce corruption to the minimal level, so that the country will not only survive, but to also develop.”
He blamed some lawyers for their role in the pervasive corruption in the country and described them as enemy of anti-corruption crusade. He said: “They are the harbingers of corruption; they carry money to judges’ homes to pervert the cause of justice; they live on the proceeds of crime; they feed fat on looters, subvert the system, by ensuring that cases are not concluded; they are accomplices of the suspects. The statement that the framework of anti graft crusade is defective is a psychological warfare; they don’t want the fight against corruption to continue.”
On the number of cases being lost at the courts by the anti-graft agencies, Sagay said it is not possible to win every case. He added: “Not all judgments are correct; there are judgments that are pervasive. Nobody is talking about the conviction of former acting governor of Adamawa State, James Ngilari; former Minister of Niger Delta, Chief Orubebe who lost at the Code of Conduct Tribunal and had his property confiscated and those taken to court over oil subsidy scam and were jailed. Various courts have granted EFCC approval to seize asset of looters, even though they are still on trial; what of recovery of looted funds that are too numerous to be mentioned.”
Civil rights activist, Comrade Mashood Erubami, said the notion that the anti-corruption crusade has failed, because no suspect had been convicted is not true, because certain institutions are determined to frustrate the APC and the Buhari administration.
Erubami said: “At present, there are forces that have constituted themselves into opposition in the police, the EFCC, the legislature, the judiciary, including the bar that is waging counter offensives against the anti-corruption struggle. They are against the anti-corruption war and are currently fighting back the crusade to sanitise the society, using their monopoly without discretion to debar accountability through weakening the anti-corruption institutions.”
Erubami, who is also the President of the Nigeria Voters Assembly (VOTASS), said: “All attempts being made to build strong institutions to discourage corruption are being frustrated, because the suspects have the capacity to hire experienced lawyers who are able to come up with technicalities to thwart the adjudication processes and free the guilty from being made to account for his or her misdeeds.”
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