Saraki’s sermon on corruption

Adekitan Adeboyejo writes on the efforts of the Senate to reposition Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of government for proactive performance and curbing corrupt tendencies

There are signs that the Eighth Senate intends to do things different from the previous assemblies. The Upper Chamber is showing early signals of commitment to change the wrong ways of running government business, which was rooted in nonchalant attitude to duty and impunity in handling public affairs. Working with this new zeal, the Senate under the leadership of Senator Bukola Saraki as its President, has been trying to keep the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of government on their toes, to ensure that they are alive to their core functions, through which the dividends of democracy can be delivered to the people. Since the Senate was inaugurated on June 9, the leadership has played host to many agencies of government, who were invited to hold interactive sessions with the lawmakers, to brief them on their activities, with a view to disclosing their strengths and challenges, and how to forge ahead to deliver service to Nigerians.

On Monday last week for instance, the President of the Senate invited the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Offences Commission (ICPC) for an interactive session, where he intimated the agency with the direction the 8th Senate intends to go in order to help galvanise the present administration towards a meaningful and people-centred governance. He succinctly made it clear to the delegation from the agency, led by its Chairman, Mr. Ekpo Nta, that the current Senate had resolved to have zero tolerance to corruption, which according to him, was responsible for the present economic crisis in the country, leading to non-payment of workers’ salaries in some states of the federation. Saraki also told the ICPC delegation that the prevailing situation, where corruption became endemic and threatening the economic survival of the country, had made it imperative for the present government to take drastic measures in the fight against the menace, saying that the legislature would work assiduously towards ensuring zero tolerance for corrupt practices in the system.

Not willing to leave the agency in doubt as to what the 8th Senate would practically do to curb the problem of graft and all manner of corrupt tendencies amidst the looming financial crisis in the economy, the President of the Senate restated the commitment of the Upper Chamber towards working with President Muhammadu Buhari and ICPC to tackle the issue of corruption in the country. His words: “Your visit is coming at this time as one of our early visitors to 8th Senate. As you know presently, we are supposed to be on recess but for us in the 8th Senate, there are certain areas of the sectors of the economy, particularly on the issue of corruption that cannot wait. “And for us, it is important we meet with you to let you appreciate where we stand from and know some of the issues that are challenging to you. Because the ICPC, EFCC and Code of Conduct remain the most institutional tripod on this fight against corruption. “I want to let you know that the 8th Senate has a zero-tolerance to corruption. We will want to make it a priority for us. We believe that it has got to a stage where it is truly endangering the entire system. And some of the symptoms that we are seeing in the areas of how it is affecting our national development is becoming more and more clearer to all of us. “We see it in states now; they cannot pay salaries, we see it in the states of our schools and the impact on our education.

We have seen it in the state of our health on the impact on the issue of maternity and child health. We have seen it in the ever-increasing cost of governance, the failure of public institutions and infrastructure. We have taken it upon ourselves that one of the deliverables is to bring an end and begin to tame corruption.” Saraki, in demonstration of his concern about the scandalous level of corruption in the polity, and his resolve to ensure that the Senate under his leadership proffered solution to the situation, promised to cooperate and work with the three agencies, primarily set up to fight corruption in the country. He also said that, though it might be difficult to eliminate corruption completely from the life of the nation, deliberate collaborative efforts of the executive and the legislative arms of government could at least, reduce it drastically, where the impact would no longer be manifest and injurious to national development. He said: “So, for the 8th Senate, we are making anti-corruption a priority. It’s a must and we are committed to that.

And our goal is to work with you, EFCC and Code of Conduct to reduce significantly the level of corruption in the system. We can only do that by knowing the challenges. It is not just the photo shots or appearing before the media and saying the right things alone; you know what the challenges are. “Are there things that we need to do that will help prevention? Because I’m sure a banker who is doing his due diligence sees a balance of an Assistant Director that is in billions, I don’t think he needs anything to tell him that there is something funny going on here. We need to be very creative and bring everybody in. Are you independent enough? Are there areas we can support you? “The message we want you to take away with you today is that the 8th Senate is ready to work with you. The 8th Senate is not going to provide any safe haven for anybody. The 8th Senate wants to work very closely with the president on this issue. And I’m sure with the political will both on the legislative and executive parts, we can bring it to an end. “We might not be able to eradicate it completely but we can bring it to a level that as a country we can be proud of. I’m very committed on this and so are a lot of our colleagues here.

When a government gets to a stage that we cannot meet our obligations, then we know that we are getting into a crisis. And that crisis also requires drastic action.” In his earlier briefing to the senators, the ICPC Chairman said that Nigeria had taken steps to address the issue of corruption holistically by following the guidelines of the international convention, which focuses on the key areas of enforcement, prevention and mass mobilisation against corruption. He also noted that the fight against corruption was making progress in the country, and stressed the need for government to tackle the root causes of corruption if the current crusade against the menace must yield  fruitful and desired results. According to him, corruption in the country was on a steady rise due to default on the part of government in the payment of wages and pensions, compelling public servants to resort to selfhelp through diversion of funds in the course of discharging their duties. “With the fight against corruption over the last years, Nigeria is on the right track. The substructures that support corruption need to be addressed first. Public officers have not been paid accumulated pensions in a long while, forcing civil servants in service to resort to corrupt means of seeking self-help,” he noted.

On the commission’s approach to curbing corruption, Nta said: “The ICPC approach to enforcement is simple. If the commission is investigating any fraud, the primary intent is not to send the suspect to jail but to ensure recovery of looted funds.” Nta stated that the ICPC had over time assisted assisted the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) in the recovery of taxes evaded by organisations and individuals. He disclosed that the commission had a competent team of chartered accountant, as well as a working template being developed to clamp down on the crime of tax fraud in the country. He also assured that the ICPC would always be ready to assist the Senate on issues that affect national interest, pointing out that there was need for a collaboration between the apex legislative Assembly and the anti-graft agency. Similarly, on Wednesday last week, Saraki also invited the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the bank’s management team to also brief the Senate on its activities, progress and challenges, while assuring the apex bank of the Senate’s willingness to cooperate and support it to be more effective in its operations as a regulatory authority. During the interactive meeting, Saraki mandated the CBN to recover and return to government coffers the N30 billion waiver granted to rice importers by the immediate past administration. Though it may not be the direct duty of the CBN to carrying out such function, it sent signal that the Senate in the present dispensation wants a holistic and collaborative approach to governance in order to achieve results. The President of the Senate also promised that the Red Chamber would prompt the Customs to work with the apex bank to ensure the recovery of the money.

This decision to revisit and reverse some actions of past administrations, considered inimical to the country’s progress is a further proof that the Senate meant to bring change to style of governance. Saraki also stressed the need for relevant government agencies to do everything within their jurisdiction to plug areas of revenue leakages and ensure that smuggling, which has adversely affected the economy, was stopped. He assured that the 8th Senate would collaborate with the CBN and other establishments of government in taking actions that would salvage the nation’s economy from its present woes and from drifting into further mess.

Furthermore, the Senate President tasked the apex bank to apply all legal and constitutional instruments at its disposal to ensure that all revenue generating agencies remit their revenues to the Federation Account, and warned that Nigerians must not continue to run the affairs of government with impunity that resulted in the current economic hardship. Saraki also reiterated the urgent need to diversify the economy through development of non-oil sectors, particularly agriculture, expressing concern that with the prevailing global crash in the price of crude oil, Nigeria could no longer depend on oil as its major revenue source. He called for synergy among relevant MDAs in the collective aspiration to move the country forward by taking the right actions in running the affairs of government. Going by what the Senate is doing so far, there is hope that, if the two Chambers of the National Assembly can intensify their oversight functions on the MDAs and ensure that the right things are done at the right time, Nigeria will begin to have reprieve from decades of economic decadence, occasioned by corruption and impunity in governance.