A civil society organisation, Accountability Lab Nigeria, has called for more action in the federal government’s fight against corruption.
Speaking on the sidelines of the organisation’s “Arts For Integrity Exhibition” in Abuja weekend, Country Director of Accountability Lab Nigeria, Mr. Odeh Friday, said more needed to be done in terms policy implementation and adherence to the rule of law where all persons should be seen to be equal before the law.
“I think the government needs to do more. Dealing with the federal level, 36 states and the local governments, there is a lot that needs to be done and that is why we are taking arts as a form of engaging people who can contribute to what the government is doing. The government needs to do more. It has not been impressive with the fight against corruption. Next week, we are going to have the international day of anticorruption, we need to encourage the government to do more.”
On specifics, he said more was expected in terms of policies and law enforcement.
“We have seen court judgment which works only on the common man. We need to see such that do not exclude the elites,” he stated.
On using art to promote integrity, he said, “We recently saw what happened with the #EndSARS protests. They (artists) also contributed a big deal, like the pictures we saw on the social media and artworks. That is the reflection of how people see things”.
In her paper presentation, Mrs. Juliet Ezenwa, a visual arts consultant said for persons to be judged to have integrity and accountability, certain questions such as; “can people judge you trustworthy? How have people felt about your credibility? Who and what can we trust with our records, our children and property?” amongst others must be satisfactorily answered.
Three artists; Olayaye Oluwaponile (Lagos), Vera Aye (Rivers), and Adetoju Adewoye (Lagos), whose artworks were nominated as top best in promoting integrity and accountability were unveiled as highlight of the event.
