By Gabriel Ewepu – Abuja

As the anti-corruption campaign takes a new dimension, six universities including the University of Benin; University of Jos; University of Lagos; University of Maiduguri; Federal University of Technology, Owerri; and Bayero University Kano, Tuesday, competed in Yiaga Africa’s second edition of ‘Bounce Corruption’ National University Debate Competition on Anti-Corruption. 

The Programme Manager, Yiaga Africa, Cynthia Mbamalu, explained that the debate focuses on issues bordering on integrity, transparency and anti-corruption in Nigeria, and it is being organized by Yiaga Africa in partnership with the All Nigeria Universities Debate Championship ANUDC.

Mbamalu added that the ‘Bounce Corruption’ project which is supported by the MacArthur Foundation is designed to complement efforts by state and non-state actors in the fight against corruption by promoting zero tolerance for corruption and impunity through effective citizen’s oversight and mobilization for accountable governance.

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The debate is part of the Bounce Corruption project which was launched by Yiaga Africa in 2017 to mobilize 20 million Nigerians in the fight against corruption and demand for accountability.

She said: “Through the debates, the views of young Nigerians are harnessed into the fight against corruption as well as for propagating the values of integrity, transparency and accountability.

“It is estimated that at least $582 billion has been lost from Nigeria since independence due to corruption, while N1.3 trillion of public funds was reportedly laundered between 2011 and 2015 alone.

“It is thus not surprising that Nigeria ranked 149th out of 179 countries on the 2020 Corruption Perception Index rankings of the Transparency International.

“Not only that, a December 2019 report by the National Bureau of Statistics on the patterns and trends of corruption in Nigeria revealed that young people are most likely to give or receive bribes, with at least 60% admitting to having given bribes. These bribes are given for a variety of reasons, but most especially to obtain a government service, speed up a procedure or avoid paying a fine.

“When this data is placed side-by-side with the high rate of youth unemployment and underemployment (42% and 21% respectively) in the country which has millions of young people finishing their studies with no job prospects, it further increases the pressure on them to offer bribes in order to secure jobs.”

Also speaking on the Bounce Corruption Project, Programme Manager, Governance and Development, Yiaga Africa, Ibrahim, Faruk, said that “The importance of getting citizens involved in the fight against corruption and to do that is by engaging students in tertiary institutions and that is why we have organised this national debate for six universities from the six geopolitical zones of the country to stimulate those conversations around accountability, transparency and integrity starting with students in the universities o they can imbibe these values and carry on with these values for the rest of their lives.

“One of the ways we are tackling corruption in the university system is that we have established Integrity Clubs in many of these universities that are represented here today.

“What the Integrity Clubs do is they organise around issues on accountability, transparency and integrity within their universities it also a way for students to hold each other accountable; to ensure that corrupt, fraudulent and unwholesome practices that happen in these universities the clubs are able to tackle them in one way or the other at that level.

“Yiaga Africa helps to provide support to the clubs; establishing the clubs, setting up a constitution, providing support for them when they have different activities that the clubs want to conduct as well.”

Faruk also commended the receptivity by the university authorities of the Bounce Corruption project and how they have been on the advocacy, “On collaboration, the university authorities have been highly receptive, the Public Integrity Clubs in the various states.

“We have not had any incidents where the management of the university has refused the establishment of any of the clubs. So far the universities have been very receptive and at the debate one staff from each of the universities that has accompanied their students to the debate.”

Also, a representative and lecturer from one of the universities competing who preferred to remain anonymous spoke on the impact the campaign through the debate will have.

“Yiaga Africa is doing the right to ‘Bounce Corruption’. The aim of organizing this debate is to ‘Bounce Corruption’ as the campaign implies, which is to eliminate corruption in our country.

“We have discovered that corruption has eaten into the fabrics of our society; it entails nepotism, internet fraud, embezzlement of funds, and for a country to develop, make economic impact the country has to fight corruption.

“So this debate is creating awareness and it is to let Nigerians know that the onus lies on them to fight corruption and to support any progromame that has to do with anti-corruption and at the end of the day is going to help our country to grow economically, physically and otherwise.

“I see a lot of impact because of the creation of awareness people become aware of the negative effects of corruption, especially in the society. So what we are doing here is to ‘Bounce Corruption’ to let people know that corruption does not help in the growth of any country, to let people know that the value of transparency, accountability and things are done in the proper manner”, she said.

Meanwhile, one of the debaters from the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, FUTO, Ezeala Clifton, also expressed hope in the fight against corruption among young people despite the level of corruption in the country.

“The idea is that Yiaga Africa who is the primary sponsor has come to understand in the fight against corruption it is important that we go into the youths, especially those in tertiary institutions because at the end of the day they are the people that will constitute the next set up of leadership in this country.

“So the idea is that if you can get young people talking about corruption as we are doing now and you get them imbibing that accountability principles you will win the fight against corruption not just for today but for the future and that is why we are here having a discourse because you cannot fight corruption without talking about it in the first place with an aim that it will metamorphose into practical changes.

“There is always hope no matter hopeless things might look even if we are in a very precarious situation at the moment, we have very poor indices of corruption, our problems are monumental and significant but we cannot afford to lose hope; there is hope for the youths and Nigerians, and what we are doing now we will take it to our schools and it will have a ripple effect”, Clifton added.

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