Another Non Governmental Organisation has emerged in the efforts to rid the country of corruption.
Known as the Nigerians United Against Corruption, the NGO after its two-day General Assembly, said its aim is to fight the menace of corruption in Nigeria.
According to a communique issued at the end of the meeting, the group said it is worrisome that corrupt practices had eaten deep into the lives of those who should be role models in the country.
The communique, signed by the group’s Senior Labourer, Dele O. Olawole, and VP Media/Information, Lanre Ogundipe, reads: “Corruption which entails financial corruption and other corrupt political, economic and other associated negative ideas, has virtually eaten deep in the lives of those who should lead as positive examples in the Nigerian society. The concept of corruption has become a bane to the socio-political and economic development of our country, since independence, considering its poor development in relation to its sovereign will.
“This deplorable situation has provoked the formation of a new Non-Governmental Organisation; NIGERIANS UNITED AGAINST CORRUPTION (NUAC) to start working on the revival of Nigeria for Nigerians since corruption has become a canker worm that is relentlessly destroying the quality of lives of Nigerians in general. We know there is no short term solution, yet this new group has embarked upon arresting the ugly situation for meaningful progress for our common future.
“The Nigerians United Against Corruption, as an NGO, has therefore called a virtual General Assembly meeting of its members from diverse Nigerian ethnic, sub-ethnic and other minority groups, the first of its kind, between March 1-2, 2012, to deliberate and retrospect on efforts to effectively combat corruption in Nigeria. The premise of this novel meeting of Nigerians has provided the following recorded reactions:
“MAJOR REACTIONS FROM THE GROUP’S DELIBERATION:
• Given the substantial importance of the Civil Service as a vehicle for driving government policies in Nigeria, it was observed that it has become a nest of corruption and therefore should be overhauled to enhance transparency and accountability.
• From a position of heavy spending on Health, Education, Security and Power sectors in Nigeria, the Assembly observed mass corruption in all these sectors. Consequently imploring NUAC to create avenues through which corruption in these areas could be nipped.
• The assembly admitted that gift is a presumable ingredient of bribery, therefore, it must always be defined in relationship with the intention for which it is being offered, particularly amongst government cycles.
• On issues of threat to lives and property of members, discussants generally accepted that NUAC should embark on mass training of members of the public and her members on security awareness.
• On Empowerment, it was observed that NUAC can have clusters among various communities, schools, social groups, motor parks and others, not necessarily wings and chapters. All these must be brought together under one coordinating umbrella.
• Finally, the assembly noted that, NUAC does not operate based on ethnic or religious sentiments, but only considers dedication and individual’s service to the course.
“THE GROUP RESOLVE AS FOLLOWS:
“Members of the Nigerians United Against Corruption (NUAC) resolve at the end of the two day deliberation to pursue good, responsible and positively responsive government, empowered by the peoples’ sovereign will and constitution for the greatest good of all Nigerians. It is our believe therefore that Nigeria can become a good, strong, powerful and respectable country among other nations of the world if we, as a people, can eliminate all the national vices that have beset our dear country. And infurtherance of this, the group also observed that for the nation to move forward the people must redefine their destiny through collective efforts to address the menace of corruption in the country and therefore arrived at the following recommendations:
• The administrative structure which serves to implement government policies throughout the length and breadth of the country is the CIVIL SERVICE. Realizing its essence and importance in the scheme of running the affairs of the country, the Nigerians United Against Corruption took a critical look at its performance. The Nigerian civil service is identified as being corrupt and seen to be promoting corruption at all levels of its performance. There are a few important ministries that were marked out during the General Assembly debate by members which are seen as very important to which much attention should be given. They are the ministries of Health, Education, Power and the Security network.
• The Health ministry is urged to perform better than usual in order to have Nigeria’s hospitals and health centres to be well equipped and well maintained. The Nigerian teaching hospitals lack modern medical apparatus and in the absence of such modern devices to improve the standard of health provision, the rich will continue to seek treatment overseas to the detriment of Nigeria’s foreign exchange and reserves and the poor will have nowhere to go.
• The Ministry of Education: Education needs to be improved in order to provide quality education to Nigerians and hire good teachers to perform the task. Nigeria students should be able to compete fairly with their counterparts in other parts of the world. The issue of certificate racketeering was raised but the mechanism to arrest the situation, especially with those who claim to have qualified overseas should be given thorough verification. Nigerians need to realize that the university is not meant for everyone except the brilliant who can withstand the rigours of required demands of tertiary education. Much abuse is recorded every year as a result of examination malpractices all over the country including official result falsification and certificate forgery. This trend is disturbing.
• Ministry of Power and Steel: While the ministry professes dedication and hard work, there have been no evidence to show any improvement in power supply in the nation. Taking a hard look at the poor supply of electricity in the country, the NUAC wishes to invite the attention of the federal government to the crucial need to for the development of energy for domestic need of the citizenry and the essential need for industrial development of the country if multi- national corporations and as well as domestically inspired investments would have any opportunity to improve the economy of the country. Energy development needs not be over emphasized in modernization process because it is considered a major economic factor without which contemporary modernization would not be possible in developing national societies of which Nigeria is one.
• Security in the country is also considered most important to preserve life and property. Those who are saddled with the responsibility of providing security for the people, such as the police are often found wanton because the Nigerian police outfit is a corrupt organization which does not enjoy the trust and confidence of Nigerians. Extra judicial killings by the Nigerian Police occur from time to time and this trend needs to be checked. The Boko Haram menace has exposed the inherent weakness of the Nigeria police in relation to insecurity threats that render the security hopes of Nigerians hopeless. NUAC as a group would like to see a greater effort from the federal government to change this bad situation for better.
“The issue of GIFT which implies giving and receiving was meticulously considered and NUAC conclude that gift taking or receiving constitutes a potential for promoting corruption in the Civil Service and in other official capacities all over the nation. NUAC is of the opinion that an unambiguous policy about the exchange of gifts in some official capacities should be established with an impending penalty for all civil servants without exception. All categories of civil servants would be subject to the same fate if any violation is discovered.
“Empowerment: The meeting considered the empowerment of its members very important in view of its unique character as a national association of Nigerians at home and in diaspora. It was noted that NUAC is absolutely blind to ethnicity, sub-ethnicity, the use of minority or majority nomenclature to seek social
or political advantage over other Nigerians, sex, religion, region, language and age provided one is above eighteen years old. The NUAC wishes to encourage the organization of clusters and cells of membership in various communities all over the nation, in schools and colleges and among already existing social groups and in motor parks also in order to make corruption issue a thing of the past. The NUAC also recognizes the inclusion of the Nigerian market women who remain the force behind petty trading in our open daily markets into the scheme.
“SUMMARY:
“The two day General Assembly deliberateded and identified all the facets of Nigeria’s socio-political problems, especially corrupt behavioural tendencies and practices in public office. In addition to the above stated recommendations the following qualities in principle and practice are required for those who wish to serve our great country to adapt and they are:
• Transparency in the discharge of state obligations to check corruption
• Accountability in the manner that state duties and obligations are dispensed either as an individual or as a group, in order to discourage corrupt practices
• Openness: If transparency makes a heavier demand on the ability to keep an open record by the individual or a group of individuals whose responsibility it is to keep such records, openness in attitude in submitting such public records when needed is a very important attitude to cooperate in pursuit of any objective when required. Destroying, burning, alteration and falsification of official documents in order to hide corrupt practices in government is a familiar occurrence in our society. If all these human generated mal-practices can be reduced to their barest minimum impact, if not totally eliminated, our country will begin to witness fast and rapid development in all areas of our political, social and economic expectations.”