‘GOVERNORS WHO WENT TO FREE SCHOOLS NOW SAY NO GOVT CAN FUND FREE EDUCATION’ Mr. Femi Falana is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and human rights activist. In this interview the fiery lawyer who is also a delegate at the ongoing national conference speaks on corruption in the country and how best to tackle it. Excerpts: Why would you say it has been difficult to tackle the problem of corruption in this country? Government, as an institution, is the most corrupt in this country. Although there is no country that is not corrupt, there is a difference between the Nigerian case and those of many other countries. The difference is that those of us who succeeded in reducing corruption to what I might call an acceptable level is that the culture of impunity is not allowed to reign supreme. What we call corruption is the manifestation of impunity. In other words, the problem we have is not corruption, it is impunity. We all often forget the fact that there is an Appropriation Act at the federal level while we have Propagation Law at the state level. When money is removed or when funds are diverted from the federation account or from the fund belonging to a state, then the appropriation law is breached. That is the end. It will be difficult to fight corruption. The difference between Nigeria and other countries that have addressed the challenge of the menace of corruption is that thou shall not be caught. Once you are caught, the laws deal with you appropriately. In China, it is a serious case; you face death penalty if you are convicted of the crime by the court of law. But in a neo-colonial environment like our own where the legal system has been hijacked by the rich and their lawyers, eminent one for that matter, corruption has become part and parcel of governance in Nigeria. Unless there is the political will on the part of the government to fight the menace of corruption, anti-graft agencies cannot enforce anything. It is worst in our case because the legal profession and the media have not taken up cases of corruption at it was the case in the past – in the 70. The media establishment was the only institution fighting corruption at that time; if a public officer was alleged to be caught, the media will investigate it and if the allegation was confirmed the media will feast on it and will not allow the fellow to get away with it until he was removed from office. But along the way, because this institution became corrupt or was corrupted, it no longer educates the government on the need to take up cases of corruption. So, what can be done? We need to mobilise Nigerians; the media are to play a leading role. The legal profession, the court and civil society organisation will have to appreciate the enormity of the challenge of corruption, the crisis of corruption and the debilitating fact of it. Once you can educate Nigerians they will mobilised and then fight against corruption. The government had done much by enacting anti-graft law and creating antigraft agencies, but now Nigerians are mounting sufficient pressure on these institutions to do their work. Even if the government wants to cover up cases of corruption once the public is mobilised, it becomes difficult for the government to overlook any such allegation. What is your view about the defeat suffered by the APC in the last governorship election in Ekiti State? Besides, can Tinubu deliver the South-West in 2015? I did not descend to the level of reducing serious ideological problems to individuals and that is how people are getting it wrong. It is not about the influence of anybody, either reducing or increasing in the South-West. What happened in Ekiti State is that Dr. Fayemi became the victim of ideological crisis. Any progressive political party in Nigeria or any party, for that matter, that does not address very seriously the question of the welfare of the people cannot run the state and when I mean the welfare of the people, I don’t mean the kind of denigrating comments that some people are making that it is a case of stomach infrastructure or whatever you call it. So, the South-West, since the days of the Action Group (AG) had always celebrated the welfare of the people – Free access to education, access to affordable health care, mass employment, agriculture and so on. If most of the government in that region now believe in the payment of market fundamental levy you cannot but run it that way. But when it is reduced to personality squabble or whatever, then, you make a mockery of the major issue. Going back to the issue of corruption, what would you say has made it difficult for the media, court and some lawyers to play their normal role in containing the problems? For instance, as for the media, it will not promote a drug addict; it will not promote 419 persons or anybody who had acquired wealth through questionable ways. A lawyer can be paid to go to court and frustrate trials, it doesn’t happen in other jurisdiction. You can be paid to file the most fabulous application and pursue it from the Magistrate Court to the Supreme Court. That is why some plead guilty in other jurisdiction, when they are charged. So, these are the problems. If you don’t follow the professional ethics that will meet the challenges of the moment, then, corruption will become the order of the day. What other things should be addressed to stem the tide of corruption? No, you cannot fight corruption in any society without addressing the question of poverty, unemployment and the security of life and properties. If you work for the government, for instance, or for the media or any profession and you cannot go to the bank to take loan to build a house, how do you prevent public officers from helping themselves through treachery? If you work seven days of the week for the government or a private establishment and you cannot send your children to good schools, how will anybody prevent you from becoming corrupt? So, the environment itself must be made unattractive to corruption. The constitution of Nigeria says welfare and security of the people shall be the primary purpose of the governors. Once you abandon that, you can’t fight corruption because everybody wants to help himself. Most of the guys in government now did not pay through their nursery to go to primary school; their parents were poor. I know governors who are in power today who went to school free of charge but they now turn round and say no government can fund education alone, no government can fund hospitals alone. What is the government there for? Why don’t you privatise the government then. So, these are problems. If you want to fight corruption you must create an enabling environment for people to live a decent life. That is the primary thing and you must appreciate the dignity of labour; you must engage in massive recruitment of young people, able bodied people. Those who have no job, you must provide an alternative means for them for sustenance, you must give them other things as provided by the constitution like unemployment benefit. That is how to make criminality unattractive to the youth. Source: National Mirror
Posted on: Sat, 19 Jul 2014 09:10:13 +0000
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