A Non-Governmental Organisation, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), on Thursday called for total replication of the Federal Government’s anti-corruption efforts at the state levels.
The Executive Director, CISLAC, Auwal Rafsanjani, made the call at the opening of a two-day anti-corruption workshop for representatives of state-led anti-corruption agencies in Lagos on Thursday.
At the workshop organised by CISLAC, Rafsanjani urged the Nigerian Governors’ Forum to work out the modalities for its members to establish anti-corruption agencies in their states.
According to him, the fight against corruption should be taken seriously by governments at all levels.
Rafsanjani stated that corruption was a huge threat to the sustainable economic development of the nation.
“It is also a threat to the promotion of ethical values and justice; corruption is a destabiliser of society, it endangers the rule of law.
“So, it is imperative to replicate the Federal Government’s anti-corruption efforts at the state and even the local government levels,’’ he said.
The executive director said that having anti-corruption agencies at other tiers of government would strengthen the campaign against corruption in the country.
In his speech, CISLAC’s Senior Legal Officer, Bathsheba Tagwai, urged the participants to seize the opportunity to strengthen their capacities as anti-corruption agents.
“Use the lessons learnt here to strengthen your abilities to institutionalise Federal Government’s anti-corruption efforts at the sub-national level,” he said.
A participant, Jonathan Ogunsanya, the Deputy Director, Public Prosecution, Lagos State Ministry of Justice, said the state had already enacted laws empowering it to establish anti-corruption agencies.
“We are at the level of putting the right structures in place. As a state, we are working towards it,” he said.
A representative of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Iheanacho Ekele, noted that there was a need for more stakeholder collaboration in the nation’s anti-corruption campaign.
He said that political leaders at the state levels should show commitment towards the establishment of state anti-corruption agencies.
Another participant, Mrs Chioma Ude, representing the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), expressed the commission’s willingness to deepen the fight against corruption in the country.
Source: News Agency of Nigeria