A professor of Internationallawandjurisprudence Akin Oyebode has lamented the high incidences of corrupt practices in Nigeria saying it has become a debilitating disease owing to its systemic nature.

Oyebode said this at the weekend while speaking at an event organised by the Socio-economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) under the theme: “Combating Corruption and Impunity: the imperatives of improving the effectiveness of anti-corruption mechanisms and the justice system in Nigeria.”

He said all hands must be on deck to tackle the ‘dreaded monster’ head on for any meaningful development to be achieved in the country.

Oyebode urged lawyers to think on ways through which corruption would be fought to a standstill in the society rather preoccupying their minds instead only on profitable briefs.

“They should not just be thinking about their briefs. Young lawyers should even enlist in the crusade and join the anti-graft war,” he said.

In his remarks, the Chairman of the occasion, Mr. Tayo Oyetibo (SAN) noted that the issue of corruption in Nigeria was attitudinal and as such citizens must re-examine themselves with a view to putting up a right attitude.

To Lagos Chief Judge, Justice Oluwafunmilayo Atilade, corruption would not be allowed to thrive in the judicial arm of government because it was the last hope of common man.

The CJ who was represented by the Chief Registrar of the Lagos High Court, Mr. Emmanuel Ogundare, further noted that lawyers and members of the public were not doing enough in the area of complaints about corrupt practices staring them in the face. “People must come up with petitions.

We don’t receive enough petitions for us to take action on some of these corruption issues”, the CJ said. But SERAP’s executive director, Adetokunbo Mumuni, feared that delay in the prosecution of corrupt individuals may hamper the transformation of President Muhammadu Buhari’s anti-corruption agenda into systematic reform.

By: Akeem Nafiu
The Newtelegraph News