Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) has called for a complete replication of the federal government’s anti-corruption efforts at the state and local government levels in Nigeria.
Development Diaries reports that the CISLAC Executive Director, Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, made the call at the opening of a two-day anti-corruption workshop for representatives of state-led anti-corruption agencies in Lagos, southwest Nigeria.
Transparency International, in its 2022 Corruption Perception Index Report, ranked Nigeria 150 among 180 countries. Although the country ranked 154 in 2021, the 2022 report still indicates a poor ranking for the nation under former President Muhammdu Buhari.
At the CISLAC-organised workshop, Rafsanjani urged the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) to work out the modalities for its members to establish anti-corruption agencies in their states.
He emphasised that the fight against corruption should be taken seriously by governments at all levels.
‘It is also a threat to the promotion of ethical values and justice; corruption is a destabiliser of society, it endangers the rule of law’, the CISLAC boss said.
‘So, it is imperative to replicate the federal government’s anti-corruption efforts at the state and even the local government levels’.
Rafsanjani said that having anti-corruption agencies at other tiers of government would strengthen the campaign against corruption in Nigeria.
As for the Deputy Director, Public Prosecution, Lagos State Ministry of Justice, Jonathan Ogunsanya, who was a participant, said the state had already enacted laws empowering it to establish anti-corruption agencies.
‘We are at the level of putting the right structures in place. As a state, we are working towards it’, he said.
Also speaking, a representative of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Iheanacho Ekele, said that there was a need for more stakeholder collaboration in the nation’s anti-corruption campaign.
He said that political leaders at the state level should show commitment towards the establishment of state anti-corruption agencies.
Photo source: CISLAC
