Corruption: FG, NASS, judiciary must stop blame game – Osinbajo

By Abdullahi M. Gulloma
Abuja

Acting President Professor Yemi Osinbajo has called on the officials of the three arms of government to stop the blame game in the fight against corruption and profess genuine ways to tackle the menace.
Speaking at the opening session of a two-day national dialogue on corruption organised by the Presidential Advisory Committee (PACAC) in collaboration with the Office of the Vice President, Osinbajo said since everyone is on the same page in respect of corruption, it was high time to embrace the best practices to address the problem

“The truth of the matter is that there is nothing peculiar about ‎corruption, corruption thrives where it is allowed to thrive. Corruption, as we all seem to agree, is an existential threat to Nigeria both as a nation and as a viable economic entity.
“Clearly, there is no doubt, whatsoever, whether every one arm of government can excuse itself, every part or arm of the society can excuse itself. But the truth of the matter is that we all know that corruption in Nigeria is systemic.

“It doesn’t matter whether it is the Executive arm of government, the judiciary or the legislature, every arm of government is involved in this systemic and life threatening social anomaly called corruption.
“There’s no question at all. And it affects all segments of the society. It affects the religious, it affects agencies and civil society groups. There’s no one in our nation that can say they are not in one way or the other, not necessarily being complicit but at least under some influence or the other of some of the implications of corruption,” he said.

He said there was the need for the three arms of government to “leave the finger pointing because the finger pointing is unhelpful.
“What I’d like us to do if that is possible in the course of this dialogue, is to look at models that have worked elsewhere and to see whether these models are somewhat applicable here, to look at best practices”.

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