Professor of International Law at the University of Lagos, Prof Akin Oyebode, has warned that massive corruption and impunity constitute grave threats to individual freedom and human rights in Nigeria.

Oyebode, who was a Guest Speaker at the annual National Management Conference of the Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM) in Warri, Delta State, said that these maladies also threaten national survival unless countered by adequate measures.

He said: “In a situation of threatened state failure, massive corruption, impunity and rising incidence of self-help, enlightened self-interest warrant recognition by all concerned of veritable threats to individual freedom and national survival, which need to be met by the adoption of requisite, well-considered measures to salvage the situation.”

According to him, the time has come to re-dedicate to the tested approach of “subjecting human conduct to the governance of rules” as originally advocated by Lon Fuller, his one-time teacher.

Speaking on “Building institutional capacities as a pathway to good governance: The importance of a legal and regulatory framework,” the university teacher, who was conferred with the fellowship of the Nigerian Institute of Management at the event, also warned that the destiny of the nation “must never be abandoned to the whims and caprices of enemies of the open society and fidelity to law and due process.”

“We all should recognize the necessity to subject all activities and actions under the superintendence of law, or else, we open the flood-gates to chaos and disintegration. Reliance on law in all things is the panacea to the multifarious problems confronting the polity and the earlier this fact is brought home to all concerned, the better for the future of the fatherland” Oyebode stated.

He declared that the right to democracy and good governance has since become a fundamental right under contemporary international law, adding that Nigerians yearn for democracy and good governance.

“For far too long have our people been hoodwinked and shortchanged by all manner of fake democrats masquerading as messiahs of the people’s cause, To aver that the preponderant majority of Nigerians endure manifold privation in terms of basic needs of life such as food, clothing, housing, health and education amounts to a gross understatement. This explains why the people look up to government to deliver them from poverty, ignorance, hunger, squalor and disease and other debilitating indices of their deplorable existence” he noted

Oyebode pointed out that the electorate has an even greater role “to put the government on its toes by checking the excesses of those in power.” He observed that while the government must be responsible and accountable, the people “must be ready, willing and able to protest arbitrariness and misrule and ultimately kick out oppressive and ineffective governments.”

“A docile people who are amenable to dictatorial tendencies of those in power forfeit their right to democracy and good governance” he added, noting that true and effective transformation “implies that the people become empowered and are able to challenge and confront their niggardly circumstances.”