US worried about corruption in Nigeria

June 11, 2013 United States of America has expressed concerns over the level of corruption in Nigeria but believes the country needs to fight it by taking the culture of its people into consideration. The Senior Deputy Chief for Litigation, US Department of Justice, Mr. Peter Ainsworth, spoke in Abuja at the US Speaker Program on Anti-Corruption and Good Governance organised by the embassy and the Transition Monitoring Group. Ainsworth, who has been a US corruption prosecutor for 15 years, said corruption was a global phenomenon but that “it takes different form in different countries”. He advocated for legislation that will protect whistle blower and guarantee the independence of prosecution agencies. He said, “Continue to try, to work hard, be thoughtful about reforming the institution; be thoughtful about reforming the statute and the organisations put in place to enforce the laws. “Every nation that contemplates an institution framework to attack corruption or any other societal problems of course needs to take its culture into consideration. That is why said at the end I said we can give you an example of some of the things we are doing in America, but I will highly suggest Nigeria arrive at this solution on their own knowing their culture and being aware of the way in which the people approach the problems. The Chairman of TMG, Ibrahim Zikrullah, lamented that powerful individuals had hijacked the rule of law and due process. Criticising government for not demonstrating enough political will to fight corruption, he bemoaned a situation where people were jailed for minor offences while those who stole billions are walking free on the street. He said, “They make it difficult to fight corruption or hold corrupt officials and their backers to account. To reverse the trend and restore meaning to anti-corruption in Nigeria requires independent transparent and accountable institutions including specialised anti-corruption agencies, law enforcement and judiciary backed by deliberate political commitment at the highest level to send clear signals that it shall no longer be business as usual. Commending the government for setting up the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Zikrullah noted that the anti-graft agencies could only succeed “if there is strong will by the people and if the political leaders are truly committed to the process and ready to implement all-encompassing anti-corruption programmes in an impartial way”.