Magaji advocates establishment of state anti-graft agencies

Muhiyi Magaji, the Chairman, Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-corruption Commission, has stressed the need for state governments to establish anti-graft agencies to strengthen the fight against corruption in the country.
He made the call at a Town Hall Meeting on Whistle Blowing and the fight against corruption in Nigeria held in Kano on Tuesday.
NAN reports that the event was organised by African Centre For Media and Information Literacy in collaboration with MacAuthur Foundation.
He said establishing similar anti-corruption agencies in the states would complement the Federal Government’s effort toward the fight against corruption in the country.
He said it was unfortunate that the fight against the menace had been left to the federal government anti-graft agencies such as EFCC and ICPC in spite of the fact that it should be a collective responsibility.
Magaji said: “Nigeria has the potential to be a great nation, but unfortunately the fight against corruption has been left to Federal Government alone.
“The various state governments should establish anti-corruption agency in their respective states to strengthen the crusade.”
According to him, the fight against corruption is a collective responsibility of all Nigerians in view of the fact that they are the direct victims of its impact.
He said the commission at the state level had established offices in all the 44 local government areas of the state as part of measures to decentralise its activities for effective performance.
He, however, expressed concern over the poor performance of the judiciary in the trial of corruption cases in the state and called for “judicial revolution” to achieve the desired objective.
He said: “For the fight against corruption to succeed in the country there must be judicial revolution.”
Ibrahim Magu, the Acting Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, urged Nigerians to support the federal government whistle blowing policy.
Magu, who was represented by the EFCC Kano Zonal Head, Malam Garba Dugu, said the whistle blowing policy was introduced to show that the agencies had a vital role to play in exposing corrupt activities.
NAN also reports that the town hall meeting was also attended by various stakeholders, including representatives of the civil society organisations, students, lawyers and university lecturers.