** Visit AAM's new website! http://www.africanassociation.org **
Thanks Kele for your response. My problem with the whole anti corruption
scheme is very basic- Who will be teaching the anti corruption lessons? Will
they be importing teachers from Mars? It is like having an infection, for
example ringworm, on some part of your body. If you don't treat it, the
chances are you are going to scratch it and infect other parts of your body.
Who are they fooling? We've gone through many of these schemes and slogans
before. Remember OFN- Operation Feed the Nation which became Operation Feed
on the Nation, WAI- War Against Indiscipline, etc.
If they truly want to fight corruption they know what to do and it's been
done in Nigeria before- investigate and prosecute all corrupt officials
without regards to rank or relationship. Lead by example!
Felix
>From: Kelechi Eke <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: "AAM (African Association of Madison)"
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Anti-corruption lessons for Nigerians
>Date: Tue, 22 Jun 2004 08:44:53 -0700
>
>Bro Felix, thanks for sharing. Corruption in our country will even get
>worse as long as there is no improvement in the present condition. "If you
>can't beat them you join them" became the popular saying for the common
>people starving everyday and looking to survive by any means necessary.
>People aspire to get to a public post and make a positive difference. Our
>politicians aspire to get a government post and get "their own share," and
>would do anything to get there - even if it means paying the hungry to
>"eliminate" their opponent.
>
>The intelligence of Nigerians cannot continue to be insulted. How can
>Obasanjo commit to eliminating corruption when he is allegedly one of the
>biggest beneficiaries of sleaze practices in our richest but poorest
>country? Numerous articles were published on how he attained sponsorship
>for his 1999 "victorious" campaign. Till date, the mystery of how a letter
>bomb killed a civilian journalist, Dele Giwa, is yet to be solved. Till
>date, the death of a country's attorney general, Bola Ige, remains another
>mystery. The only reason why there was a probe on Abacha's loot was
>because of the former dictator's death. But there are worse Abachas in our
>country today waiting their turn to rule Nigeria for the second time as
>civilians. After Obasanjo's second term, he might undergo a sex change so
>that he can run as a woman - who knows.
>
>Hard times have made our people spiritually stronger. I hope God hears
>their prayers because it will take devine intervention to correct the years
>of mayhem that our leaders have caused in that country. Their
>anti-corruption curriculum is just another form of public distraction and a
>way to look good in the eyes of the rest of the world while they continue
>to deprive the common people of basic needs. A dirty broom cannot sweep
>clean!
>
>- Kelechi
>
>
>f ossia <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>** Visit AAM's new website! http://www.africanassociation.org **
>
>Anti-corruption lessons for Nigerians
>By Sola Odunfa
>BBC, Lagos
>
>An anti-corruption curriculum is set to be introduced acoss all public
>schools and universities in Nigeria.
>
>
>Africa's most populous country is rated the world's second most corrupt
>after Bangladesh by the Berlin-based NGO, Transparency International.
>The initiative is being portrayed as the latest official effort to fight
>the
>endemic corruption in the country.
>
>The executive chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other
>Related Offences Commission, ICPC, Justice Mustapha Akanbi, said the
>government had already approved the studies and a team of experts had been
>set up to work on the curriculum.
>
>
>Declaration
>
>At his inauguration for the first term in 1999, President Olusegun Obasanjo
>announced that his priority was to minimise, if not eradicate, corruption
>from his country's public life.
>
>
>Corruption is a cankerworm which has eaten deep into society.
>Prince Ibrahim, Nigeria
>
>He set up two dedicated agencies to achieve the objective: ICPC and the
>Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
>But neither body has recorded any significant progress in their assignment.
>
>Five years after the president's declaration, Nigeria is perceived to have
>sunk deeper into corruption, hence its unenviable ranking by Transparency
>International.
>
>No convictions
>
>To date, ICPC is reported to have received more than 1,200 petitions on
>suspected cases of official corruption.
>
>But only 31 cases involving 74 persons had been charged to court.
>
>
>Those being prosecuted include two former ministers in the Obasanjo
>cabinet,
>a former state governor and a judge of the high court.
>
>There are as yet no convictions.
>
>
>The ICPC has openly indicted 18 of Nigeria's 36 state governors for
>fraudulent diversion of public funds but it has not charged any of them due
>to their constitutional immunity from prosecution.
>
>ICPC officials say that the governors will be arrested and charged as soon
>as their terms expire in 2007.
>
>'Naira soup'
>
>The anti-graft body complains of under-funding by the government, which
>results in gross under-staffing.
>
>Mr Akanbi recently summed up the situation saying: "If the money is not
>there then you have to confine yourself to what you have. If I want my wife
>to prepare a good soup and she says it is going to cost me about 2,000
>Naira
>and I gave her 500 Naira, she will prepare 500 Naira soup and that's what I
>will take."
>
>ICPC is empowered to investigate only cases which happened after its
>establishment on 13 June 2000 and which are reported to it.
>
>The time bar effectively precludes investigation of suspected cases of
>corruption during military rule.
>
>The second dedicated agency, EFCC deals mainly with cases of scam letters
>and electronic frauds.
>
>It has re-opened several cases which were unresolved by the police but,
>like
>ICPC, it is yet to secure any conviction.
>
>
>Story from BBC NEWS:
>
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