HEDA Tasks Nigerians Over Ethnic, Religious Sentiments In Fight Against Corruption
Nigerians have been asked to unite against corruption and stop defending
dishonest leaders based on ethnic and religious considerations.
The call was made at the end of a one day 15th anti-corruption situation
room held in Kaduna on Tuesday. The event with the theme “Corruption and
Its Threat to Peaceful Coexistence: A Critical Review of Feuding
Communities and Management of Scarce Resources was organized by the
foremost anti-graft group, Human and Environmental Development Agenda
(HEDA Resource Centre). The conference also identified corruption as one
of the major causes of violent conflict and community strifes in
Nigeria.
The conference was attended by the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC),
Office of the Attorney General and Ministry of Justice in Kaduna State
and representatives of the State Commissioner of Police (CP), the
Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC), Nigerian
Union of Journalists (NUJ) amongst many others.
In a communique issued at the end of the historic conference,
participants said corruption has consistently fueled poverty,
instability, crimes and violent extremism, adding that the pockets of
insurgency in the country at the moment are linked to corrupt practices
that constantly stifle human potentials through the lack of
opportunities.
The Chairman of the event, Prof Shehu Abdullahi said fighting corruption
was not an easy task urging Nigerians to unite against the scourge
irrespective of religious or ethnic differences.
The Guest Speaker, Prof Adam Ahmed Abere of the Nigerian Defense Academy
(NDA), identified what he called Grand and Petty corruption. He said
while grand corruption is committed by people in high places, petty
corruption is dominant among the lowly, including street beggars.
He said the North East crisis has in the past been sustained by
corruption as reflected in the handling of military operations. He said
Nigeria currently has a window of opportunity to reclaim her fortunes
considering the hope that was brought by President Mohammadu Buhari’s
government.
“For the first time, anti-corruption was made one of the key goals of
the Federal Government. This is a huge opportunity. We are seeing the
positive results”, he told the audience.
The groups said in the communique “peaceful co-existence, ethnic and
religious harmony can only be enhanced through the vigorous
anti-corruption campaign and henceforth, we urge the Federal, State and
local governments to intensify the campaign against corruption as a way
of reducing the growing cases of violence, extremism, insurgency and
conflict all of which threaten the stability and peaceful co-existence
in Nigeria.”
Participants urged Nigerians to unite and do away with ethnic and
religious sentiments to effectively fight corruption for stability and
sustainable livelihood are dependent on the robustness with which
Nigerians fight and defeat corruption as a people united for a common
goal.
The conference also asked Nigerian authorities to address the
orientation of Nigerians which can be achieved through a moral and
culture-driven educational curriculum in primary, secondary and tertiary
institutions.
It noted further “Participants are deeply concerned about political
corruption and calls for electoral reforms for inclusive public
participation in governance”. Participants lauded the Nigerian Social
Investment Programme as a positive and ambitious initiative that has
significantly impacted the lives of beneficiaries with a potentials for
reducing violent conflicts and crimes rate with its productive
engagement of the critical mass of Nigerian.
The Nigerian authorities, private and public institutions should create
or strengthen existing social safety belts to mitigate against poverty
induced corruption, though not a justification for it.” Civil society
community was further charged to engage the implementation of government
social and intervention efforts to ensure maximum benefit of the
targeted beneficiaries.
It asked the mainstream and social media to work together to change the
narratives from mere reporting conflict and cases of violence from the
prism of stereotyping and ethnic profiling by highlighting corruption as
a major factor that fuels violence and conflict which should be
addressed by all stakeholders irrespective of their origin.
Participants urged Nigerian government, public and private institutions
to ensure human rights and the building of institutions for the
elimination of injustice and inequalities in order to stem the tide of
corruption, violence and the prospect of instability.
HEDA and the promoters of the anti-corruption situation room were
commended for their steadfastness. HEDA has undauntedly raised the issue
of corruption in the areas of critical and pending cases on corruption
in the court, the establishment of the anti-corruption situation room.
The conference was supported by MacArthur Foundation, Upright for
Nigeria, NOA and many others.
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