*battle should not done in isolation-Elumelu
*as CSOs urge N/Assembly to be proactive in oversight functions

By Levinus Nwabughiogu

ABUJA-Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila has said that the fight against corruption of the present government is not about private individuals or political interests but saving the soul of the nation.

Femi Gbajabiamila

This came as the minority leader of the House, Hon. Ndudi Elumelu also retorted that the battle should be collective, sincere and not in isolation.

The views were canvassed at a seminar to mark the House of Representatives Press Corps Day jointly organized by the Corps and the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Center (CISLAC) yesterday.

Gbajabiamila who was represented by Elumelu at the event said that corruption undermines the rule of law.

He said that the governance systems in Nigeria needed to be made transparent, advocating that the budget process should be made open for the people to know how their money was being spent.

He said: “Corruption in public office severs the relationship of trust and accountability that ought to exist between the leaders and the people they lead. It is an insidious plague that undermines the rule of law and compromises our democracy, it distorts our sense of morality and negatively redefines the expectations we have of ourselves as citizens.

“Our country is locked in an existential battle against corruption. This is not a fight against individuals or political interests. This is a battle for the soul of a nation, a contest to determine if we in this generation can live up to our highest aspirations, and leave for future generations, a prosperous and peaceful nation.

“Success in the fight against corruption requires that we build accountability and transparency into the fabric of our institutions. From the executive to the legislature and even the judiciary, we must let the light into the inner workings of all the branches of government; the ministries, department and agencies through which they operate. Budgets should be public; citizens have a right to know who is spending their money and what it is being spent on.”

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The speaker charged the media houses to provide their personnel with the logistics to properly checkmate public officials.

“When the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) was passed into law, many critics worried that the press would abuse the law to demand access to information that isn’t covered by the mandate of the Act. Those critics recognised that the Act provided an enormously powerful tool for truth-seekers to identify and expose malfeasance in public office.

“Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear that you in the press have fully embraced the possibilities of the Act. Media houses have not invested in training personnel and providing resources for investigative journalism.

“This needs to change, because as those of us in public office have a mandate to fight corruption by building a culture of transparency within our institutions, and by empowering law enforcement to do its job effectively without fear or favour, you too have an obligation to hold us to account, and to do so honourably”, he said.

Also speaking on his capacity as the minority leader of the House, Elumelu charged corruption fighters to be sincere and holistic.

“Fighting corruption should be collective, proactive and sincere and at the same time, should not by anyway be political or politicised. It is my firm belief that the fight against corruption should not be in isolation; it should be the holistic responsibility of every institution and establishment of society. It demands the overall responsibility of everybody that desires a better country or society”, he said.

The leader, however, added that the government needed to pursue good governance for the corruption fight to be fully realized.

“Good governance, you have appropriate remuneration for workers, you have provision of adequate welfare and putting in place critical and functional infrastructural amenities for the people.

“There is an urgent need to strengthen and improve on critical infrastructure and institutions such as affordable housing, effective health care delivery and efficient transportation through provision of good roads networks and sustainable rail system, affordable and effective educational system as well as agricultural chain that will guarantee abundance food for the citizenry. When these are put in place, the people will be happy and patriotic”, he said.

Others resources such as Hon. Abdulrazaq Namdas from Adamawa State, Hon. Aisha Kadijat from Kebbi State in their goodwill messages urged the media to assist in correcting the wrong impression about the National Assembly.

Earlier, the Chairperson, House of Representatives Press Corps, Ms Grace Ike, the Executive Director, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Anwal Musa and the representative of the MacArthur Foundation, Dayo Olaide asked the leadership of the House to make their offices accessible for information.

Olaide particularly requested the National Assembly to be proactive in their oversight functions and blacklist agencies of government that failed to publish their yearly expenditures.

Citing about N63 trillion as the budget from 1999 to 2019, he said that Nigerians needed to know how the agencies of government expended the funds for the good of the people.

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