A former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Malam Nuhu Ribadu, on Friday said it was time for governors and other public officers to tell Nigerians how much they earn as security votes.
He also said the practice of spending humongous funds as security votes should be checked.
He urged President Muhammadu Buhari not to be afraid of stepping on toes to bring the corrupt to justice, and called for more cleaning up of the justice sector to make the anti-graft war successful.
Ribadu stated these at a convocation lecture at the Federal University, Dutsin Ma, Katsina state.
He said last year, the United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Gutters, announced that the “global economy loses up to $3.6 trillion every year to corruption.”
He said, “To the credit of current management of the EFCC, and the political leadership under President Muhammaud Buhari, otherwise unexplored or less investigated areas have now been brought under scrutiny.
“For a long time, security, both in concrete and abstract terms has been used to conceal expenditures that are largely fraudulent or dubious. If we learn lessons at all from the famous arms probe of the last three years, is that not everything written in the name of security actually gets spent for the intended purpose.
“We must insist that for accountability and transparency, Nigerians are told what monies are budgeted for our security apparatuses and for what purpose the monies are spent. The practice of political leaders spending humongous amounts of money in the name of security votes should also be checked.”
He urged the Buhari administration to sustain the political will in fighting corruption by stepping firmly on more toes.
He said: “It is important to not only continue to demonstrate the political will, but also take steps to intensify it. This government has started well in this regard. It can only continue to succeed in the fight against corruption in the eyes of the public if it firmly steps on toes, ensure corrupt people are made to face justice and those who blow the whistle on corrupt acts are fully protected from all kinds of victimisation.”
Ribadu demanded more cleansing of the judiciary for the anti-graft war to have more impact.
According to this, “A major step towards attaining sustained result in the fight against corruption is by first cleaning up our entire justice sector.”
