Less than 24 months to the conduct of the 2019 General Elections, the Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, has said he will defeat corruption in Nigeria, by replicating the model he used to drive down corruption in the Lagos State Judiciary, to zero percent.
Recall, that Osinbajo was at one time the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, in Lagos State.
The Acting President who stated this during a talk-shop organised in Abuja, by the Office of the Vice President, in contribution to the national dialogue on corruption, boasted that corruption in the Lagos State Judiciary dropped to zero percent, following the sack of 22 corrupt Magistrates and three Judges, and by drastic improvement in welfare.
He said a Judge’s salary of N67,000 then, could not build a house. To reverse the trend, every Judge was given a house for life, while their remuneration was increased “considerably”, to the extent that Lagos became a reference point.
“It was because a system was in place, and impunity was not allowed. It is important that we put in place models that will work,” he stressed.
Osinbajo noted that in the United Kingdom, candidates undergo 17 different tests before being appointed as Judges.
“We must work together – the Legislature, the Judiciary and the Executive – to put a model that must work. We must ensure that systems that are put in place are fair and comply with the rule of law,” he said.
He further said that the anti-graft war would not be won where citizens continue to celebrate the corrupt, adding that, the underlying causes of corruption, such as deprivation, also need to be addressed.
“One of the critical issues that we have discovered in our fight against corruption, is that we need much more robust international cooperation, especially with respect to return of assets.
“We find that the process of returning assets, aside from the judicial process, is so difficult and so complicated, that it could just take you literally years to get assets returned.
“And I think that it is important for countries of the world where stolen assets are located, to really work with us in ensuring that these assets are returned speedily. I know that the United Kingdom is working with us in particular on this issue of beneficiary register.
“That will be extremely useful for us, because we will now be able to discover who is behind some of the names of companies and other shelves that are used to hide stolen assets.’’
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