Dr Kolawole Olaniyan, who happens to be a legal adviser, Amnesty International Secretariat, London, during an interview with The Punch, talked on Nigeria’s anti-corruption efforts, and also shared his view on how the repatriated loot should be handled to benefit victims of corruption in the country.
When he was told that loke his predecessors, the current President of Nigeria, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has also begun fighting corruption even in his cabinet, Olaniyan while reacting to this said that it is true that anti-corruption promises, as a rhetorical device, have been a permanent feature of the Nigerian political landscape.
Asked if the country should scrap it anti-graft agencies, since Nigeria’s huge capital spending on the agencies have not paid off, Olaniyan said they should not be scrapped because the solution is not to scrap them. He said it is like cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face.
He said,
“The agencies have not worked well primarily, because the political leadership is generally corrupt, and weak and clearly not interested in pursuing genuine anti-corruption and rule of law reforms.”
He alleged that the independence of the anti-corruption agencies, is more important to their existence, and operations but the country’s anti-corruption laws have clearly not kept pace with international standards, which pertains to preventing and combatting corruption.
Further talking, he said,
“Former Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), for example, reportedly interfered with several ongoing cases by the EFCC and the ICPC.”
He added,
“Another former attorney general — Mr. Micheal Aondoakaa—contested the prosecutorial powers of the EFCC, and sought to take over cases with respect to some former governors who were facing allegations of corruption by the commission.”