There Shoiuld Be No Sacred Cow In Your Fight Against Corruption -Ex Envoy Tells Buhari

A former ambassador and deputy representative of Nigeria at the United Nations, Oladapo Fafowora has called for a holistic approach to the fight against corruption in Nigeria.

Fafowora who gave the charge at the 11th annual Surveyor Adekunle Kukoyi memorial lecture organized by the Lagos state branch of Nigerian Institution of Surveyors (NIS) noted that all corrupt individuals should be brought to book.

Speaking on the the theme “Landscape: challenges and responsibilities for African future,” Fafowora noted that the major challenge confronting African states was corruption even as he expressed the need for the federal government to fight the war against graft.

The challenges, Fafowora said included those of national identity and integration, sustaining democratic rule, fighting massive corruption, mass poverty and ignorance, job creation, economic backwardness, poor social and physical infrastructure, poor health delivery service, constant threat to constitutional government, and the rule of law, as well as weak and ineffective public institutions.

He said: “It is now to end public corruption in our country because there is strong and widespread public demand to the effect that those against whom allegations of public corruption have been made should be brought to justice as speedily as possible.”

“If found guilty, then they should be punished accordingly. There should be no sacred cows and such people are morally unfit for positions of leadership and high state responsibilities in our country. They are enemies of the state and should be treated as such,” he added.

 He urged President Muhammadu Buhari to extend the searchlight on corruption to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), saying it was not an exaggeration that virtually all public institutions in Nigeria have been gripped by the vice of corruption.

He advocated for urgent introduction of strong measures including rebuilding of public institutions to be  introduced as means of addressing the grave challenge posed by corruption to Nigeria’s future prosperity, stability and security.

A guest lecturer and chancellor of Lead City university, Ibadan, Professor Gabriel Ogunmola who spoke at the event, described as a “national shame” the humongous amount so far discovered in the arms purchase scandal involving the former national security adviser (NSA), Sambo Dasuki and other prominent Nigerians.