By 
Corruption in Nigeria is an ill-wind that blows no one any good. It has assumed alarming proportions to the extent that the WTO DG-Ngozi Okonji Iweala-wrote in her book that ‘it is dangerous to fight corruption in Nigeria”. Corruption has ruined the economy and made Nigeria the Poverty Capital of the world
In our secondary school days, corruption was described as a cankerworm that eats deep into the fabric of a nation. Several years after, we are still in the pit of corruption.
Rather than cry for this beloved country, let us think of creative solutions.
Let us adopt proactive solutions rather than being reactionary: use preventive measures. I want to propose as follows:
- The National Assembly[NASS] Committees that provide oversight responsibilities should be held accountable for the results of MDAs that they oversee. They should be required on a bi-annual basis to defend what happens under their very nose;
- Every MDA should have a full-time Chief Anti-Fraud Officer [ who must be held personally accountable] that reports directly to the EFCC and Board with dotted reporting line to the National Assembly;
- Every MDA should have a Chief Internal Auditor [ not Chief Risk Officer] who must be held accountable for failures/frauds in the MDAs. Sh/e should report to the EFCC and the National Assembly, including the Board;
- Anti-Fraud technologies should be deployed accross all the MDAs in Nigeria, including Transaction Monitoring Systems;
- All External Auditors to the MDAs should be required to present their Annual Audit Reports to the National Assembly with a copy to the EFCC and should be held accountable;
- All MDAs should be subjected to External Forensic Auditors who should present their reports to EFCC on an Annual basis;
- Special Courts should be set up to try all cases of corruption in the public sector; and
- The minimum jail term for all cases of corruption in the public sector should not be less than 10 years and a maximum of 100 years.
All the above recommendations should be presented to the National Assembly and sent to Mr. President for asscent.
