Civil society groups challenge President Tinubu to publish his anti-corruption blueprint

PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu has been challenged by over 30 civil society groups to unveil his government's anti-corruption blueprint and also to offer a pledge that he will not consider any person with impending cases for any political appointment.

Since assuming office on May 29, President Tinubu has made a few moves to combat corruption including replacing the heads of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Central Bank of Nigeria, the Nigeria Customs Service and the Nigeria Immigrations Service. However, the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (Cislac) has demanded that he go a step further by coming up with a coherent anti-corruption programme.

Auwal Rafsanjani, Cioslac's executive director, said that the Buhari administration left so many lapses unattended, which resulted in the ineffectiveness and failure of legal framework. He added that as a result, anti-corruption institutions and initiatives and the National Anti-Corruption Strategy adopted in 2018 are still not being effectively implemented.

According to Mr Rafsanjani, President Tinubu should not allow the little gains made in the fight against corruption to slip away. He added that the fight against corruption should be collective, hence, the president should not consider any person with corruption cases for any political appointment.

Mr Rafsanjani said: “On 29th May 2023, a new administration, still under the All Progressives Congress Political Party (APC) has taken over the rein of affairs in Nigeria and unlike President Muhammadu Buhari, the newly sworn-in president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu does not seem to have the issue of anti-corruption as a priority on his agenda, despite the fact that corruption has eaten deeper into every sector of our society and is crippling the country like an epidemic. From his campaigns to the manifesto, the president has not shown to Nigerians his anti-corruption agenda and clear plans on how his administration intends to fight corruption.

"This is the very alarming and worrisome effect of corruption, therefore we call on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in this direction. Over the years, Nigerians have continued to suffer inadequate access to basic social amenities and service delivery such as health care, good roads, electricity, clean water and education due to the in-depth corruption that has ravaged the system.

“Many Nigerian households cannot boast of three-square meals, getting employment into government institutions is no longer on merit but on who you know basis and individuals have to pay one form of bribe or the other to access basic services from public institutions. Despite paying taxes, majority of Nigerians barely enjoy any benefits from government."

He added that they demand that anti-corruption and security agencies demonstrate greater transparency with regards to their budgets and expenditures and also develop strategic capacity-building spending plans. Mr Rafsanjani said that to this end, more respected technocrats, jurists and civil society figures should be appointed to serve on the boards of the anti-corruption agencies and reduce the de facto control board members have over staffing and operational decisions.