Vice President Yemi Osinbajo Monday charged African leaders on the need for effective funding of anti- corruption agencies if the Continent must tackle the corruption menace effectively.
Osinbajo who spoke at the Eighth Annual General Meeting and Conference for Heads of Anti-corruption Agencies in Commonwealth Africa, in Abuja,
” I call on governments of African States to more actively provide funding for anti corruption agencies. The fight against corruption is far more sophisticated, vicious and nuanced than ever before. In many of our countries it is in the nature of State Capture, where the strongest arms of the polity is the corrupt superstructure represented in the formal and informal structures of the state and society.
“So when Corruption fights back in such systems the courage and commitment of agency operatives is not enough. We must provide adequate resources to investigate, adequately equip operatives, protect their families, protect whistleblowers and witnesses” he said
Osinbajo , while also seeking greater partnerships amongst countries in tackling corruption on asset recovery and returns, noted that fighting corruption is futile without ensuring that the proceeds of corruption do not find safe haven.
According to Osinbajo, the proceeds from corruption must be fully recovered and promptly repatriated to make the fight against corruption more meaningful, adding that ” Recovering stolen assets not only accomplishes the goal of restitution, it also serves as a potential deterrent to future corruption”
Article 51 of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption states unequivocally that return of assets is a fundamental principle of the Convention, and mandates States Parties to afford one another the widest measure of cooperation and assistance in this regard. Similarly, Article 16(1)(c) of the African Union Convention for Preventing and Combating Corruption obligates States Parties to adopt such legislative measures as to enable repatriation of proceeds of corruption.
The Vice President sees the effective implementation of these Conventions as depending to a considerable extent on the willingness, cooperation and the assistance of States in the areas of mutual legal assistance (MLA), law enforcement cooperation, asset recovery and return, and technical assistance.
“Regrettably, the procedures to obtain Mutual Legal Assistance to seize, confiscate and repatriate proceeds of corruption are often complex and problematic, and in urgent need of reform.
“The absence of a legal basis for cooperation in some countries, differences in legal and procedural frameworks, language barriers, bank secrecy, jurisdictional issues, a lack of funding – are some of the obstacles standing in the way of effective mutual legal assistance”
He however , noted that “there is evidence of a renewed commitment to collectively identifying the most effective means of overcoming all of these existing legal and technical obstacles to asset recovery and return”
Nigerian former Head of State, Yakubu Gowon, in his remarks, advanced reasons why some Nigeria leaders who ruled the country after him indulge in corrupt practices.
This is just as the former Nigerian leader frowned at a situation that allows for labeling all former leaders as ” corrupt” adding that such labeling was not proper as some did not engage in corruption
The former leader who was over thrown in a military coup in 1975 said those leaders may have learned lessons from the situation he found himself after he was removed from office in 1975.
Gowon, while speaking at the Eighth Annual General Meeting and Conference for Heads of Anti-corruption Agencies in Commonwealth Africa, recounted how he was sustained by ” benevolent junior officers” who accompanied him to the Organization of Africa Unity ( OAU) which later metamorphosed into Africa Union ( AU) meeting when he was overthrown, ” contributed their estacode” to sustain him after he was removed from office.
Noting that he was unprepared for what he faced after the coup, Gowon said ” I did not prepare for the future” he added that this may have accounted for why those who came after have decided to “prepare”
According to him ” Everything we had in the country belong to the nation, belong to the people and we must not touch anything,”
“it was some of my staff who attended the OAU meeting with me that contributed their estacode to let me have something to live on”.
He noted that he did not pay lip service to corruption, but ” dealt with corrupt cases in his cabinet promptly”
“We made sure nothing like that happened, especially in the civil service,”
The Association of the Heads of Anti-Corruption Agencies in Commonwealth Africa is a network of Heads of Anti-Corruption Agencies in Commonwealth Africa established in 2011 by the Commonwealth Secretariat.
The Association fosters collaboration in anti-corruption efforts in the region and promotes peer learning and exchange of best practices in the fight against corruption.
Tony Ailemen, Abuja
