By Gabriel Ewepu and Progress Godfrey

ABUJA – THE Education Rights Campaign, ERC, asserted that the fight against corruption has not met the expectations of Nigerians.

The group, at a press conference in Abuja on Tuesday, said corruption is hurting the well-being of Nigerians and worsening poverty, insecurity and the state of public service, adding that the Tinubu administration must move beyond political statements and enforce existing laws.

The conference, which marked International Anti-Corruption Day, spotlighted the need to fully implement the Proceeds of Crime (Recovery and Management) POC Act 2022.

Stakeholders stressed the impact of corruption on young people and the education sector calling for tougher action on unexplained wealth across public institutions.

Speaking, ERC’s National Coordinator, Hassan Taiwo Soweto, said, “This is an annual event to spotlight the challenges of corruption in countries across the world, and particularly Nigeria, where corruption has become its coach and an ending monster that has implications for people’s well-being, for the state of the economy, for the well-being of average Nigerians, and of course for equality and national security.

“We thought that it’s important that we mark the day with an event like this that tries to call the attention of the government to the need to begin to take steps to address the scourge of corruption. So today’s press conference was to call on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to take the fight against corruption seriously.

“We think that over the past two years of this administration, the fight against corruption has just been a political statement without any real actions on the ground. And that’s why you see across the country, corruption is still happening at different levels, whether at the local, state or federal government level.

“But what is even more concerning is how politicians flaunt wealth and properties that are inconsistent with their legitimate earnings.”

Soweto noted that the POC 2022 law gives anti-graft agencies enough power to go after public officials with wealth that doesn’t match their legitimate income. He said stronger enforcement would rebuild trust in public institutions.

He however, expressed worries that corruption had become systemic such that Nigeria’s anti-graft agencies mandated to fight corruption did very little to bring corrupt officials to book.

The ERC national coordinator added that the loss of an estimated $550 billion to corruption since independence has weakened the economy and drained funds meant for education, health, jobs and public infrastructure, “because every kobo that is stolen by public office holders, by contractors, means less money available to provide for public education, public health care, to ensure adequate pay and welfare for teachers and academic staff in our public universities.”

He also called on government and employers of labour to “ensure that workers in different sectors of the economy earn a good wage, provide jobs for young people who need jobs, and, of course, to fix broken public infrastructures.”

According to him, corruption has eaten deep into the system at all levels, which the EFFC and ICPC are expected to fight corruption.

“So it is more or less like everybody just taking their own. So what anti-corruption agencies just do, once in a while, is to do some symbolic things to assure the public that they are still there, they are doing something, while in the real sense, corruption goes on.

“So in terms of what we should do, I think we have to go back to the citizens. We need to rise up. That is just the ultimate solution”, he said.