By Henry Umoru

abuja—Senate President, Bukola Saraki, said yesterday that the reason the current fight against corruption has not yielded much success was tbecause it was riddled with sensationalism, stressing the need for sincerity in the bid to end corruption.

This is even as speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, said that until strong institutions were built and strengthened, Nigeria might end up punishing corruption but not fighting it.

Bukola Saraki

Speaking in Abuja at the  launch of ‘Antidotes for Corruption: The Nigerian Story’, a book written by Dino Melaye, a senator from Kogi West, Saraki advised that the fight against corruption be focused on deterrence and not punishment.

Saraki, who noted that the current government was making effort in forcing back the menace, said  “I am convinced that why our fight against corruption has not yielded much success is that we have favoured punishment over deterrence.

“We must review our approaches by building our institutions to make it difficult for people to carry out corrupt practices.

“ It is my view that the key area of prevention, we must work on, is to make it difficult for stolen money to find a home.

“We must fight corruption with sincerity, and not fight symptoms… unlike the five-minute sensationalism we have now. It must not be based on individuals  but on institutions.

“Let us fight corruption with sincerity. If we fight corruption in a corrupt way, we will not make any headway.“

In his remarks, speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, said until strong institutions were built and strengthened, Nigeria might end up punishing corruption but not fighting it.