joshuaHEDA, Odinkalu, Falana, Others Canvasses Establishment Of International Anti-Corruption Court
*No need for it – Chairman, Lagos State Public Complaint & Anti-Corruption Commission
Ayo Ola
Anti-corruption campaigners from Nigeria and other countries have said that the establishment of international anti-corruption court will greatly combat high profile cases of corruption in Nigeria and other nations.
They include: Former Executive Secretary, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Prof. Chidi Odinkalu; a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mrs Funmi Falana (SAN); Chairman, Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA Resource Centre), Mr. Olanrewaju Suraju; Executive Secretary, Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition, Beauty Narteh; Director-General, Malawi Anti-Corruption Bureau, Martha Chizuma among others.
According to them the establishment of international anti-corruption court would stem the growing cases of corruption in Nigeria and other countries of the world.
They spoke during a conference on international anti-corruption court and the public presentation of a compendium on 100 high profile corruption cases in Nigeria (special edition with some West African cases. The summit was organised in Lagos on Monday by HEDA in collaboration with the Integrity Initiatives International (III) and the support of MacArthur Foundation. The theme of the summit was: “Engaging young stakeholders in attaining global cooperation in the fight against corruption and repatriation of illicit assets.”
Odinkalu decried the high regard accorded to corrupt rich people in Nigeria and warned that corruption has debilitating effects on the society.
He said: “It is important for everybody here to take the setting up of international anti-corruption court seriously.
“There is the need for better honesty amongst citizens. We prioritise the stealing of goat and cow over the plunder of the entire state and the entire country. As a matter of fact, the people who steal the assets of the entire country are lionized and given high positions. We make them governors, we make them ministers. Some of them may even sit sometimes as judges. And we hail them. It is because of that plunder that you have many people who are unable to get access to health.”
Falana said: “This conference is about advocacy against corruption. Today being the international anti-corruption day, it is a very good time to remind Nigerians and ofcourse, the whole world the vices of corruption and the consequences. The organisers put up this conference to sensitise the youth on the need to fight corruption. Remembering that the youth is a very important sector of the society, they are the energetic sector of society, very resilient and tomorrow of our society. So there is the need to carry them along in this fight against corruption so that the future of Nigeria can be a better place.
“We have come to discuss the necessity for international anti-corruption court which will highlight the areas and ofcourse direct our search light, not just to a country where the money is being taken from bur also to the country where the money is being deposited. Because if there is no receiver, the taker will be reluctant to take. We are not just talking about our money being taken away here, we also want to see how we can repatriate the funds that have been taken away from the country that it has been taken to.
“So the international anti-corruption court will be such that the countries involved, both the governments of the exporting corruption country and the importing corruption country will be involved prosecuting such high profile cases and ofcourse repatriated the money where it was taken from. This is the importance of this court that we are advocating.
“We hope this court will be put in place and in will be an international one just like the International criminal Court. We also hope that this will help us in our fight against corruption not just in our nation but globally.”
Suraju explained that conference was borne out of the urgency to tackle cross-border corruption and illicit financial flow and also to prompt advocacy for the creation of international anti-corruption court.
He said: “We want to remind people of the effects of corruption and how much that is taking away is depriving them of development and benefits of what should have accrued to them from those cases of corruption. We encourage people to engage in fight against corruption. It is the duty and in the interest of every one of us to fight corruption.
“Politicians do not fight corruption easily. Except the citizens, civil society and also the media are able to set the pace and continue to remind them and challenge them to address the mandate for which they are all established. It is important that we have international mechanisms that will maintain the fight against corruption and hold people accountable beyond our national enclave especially a situation where you have state capture, it becomes difficult for agencies like our local anti-corruption agencies to hold the politicians accountable. It is necessary to have an international mechanism just like you have the International Criminal Court.
Lagos State Resident Commissioner, Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, Kabir Elelu said that corruption undermines justice, equity and development. He added that it erodes public trust in government and weakens institutions generally.
He said: “It is essential to engage young stakeholders, whose energy and innovation can drive the fight against corruption. Their involvement fosters a culture of integrity and transparency, laying the groundwork for sustainable development.”
He stated that global cooperation is vital in combating corruption, particularly in repatriating illicit assets. He added that it is also important in recovering stolen wealth. He stated that good cooperation restore hopes, accountability and development potential in affected communities.
But Chairman, Lagos State Public Complaint & Anti-Corruption Commission, Justice Mojisola Olatoregun J. (Rtd) said what is needed are national courts rather than international anti-corruption courts.
She stated that there is the need to restructure the anti-corruption agencies, adding that Nigerians are not applying themselves enough to anti-graft war.
She said: “What we need is a national court. Already we have avenues. If I find my money in Rwanda or Switzerland, and I want to bring it into the country, the courts are available all over the world. I can go to London, America, Europe, I can apply to the courts there. So I am wondering exactly what the international court would do.
“I think for anti-corruption campaign to be actually working, we need strict laws. I do not think our laws are strict enough to catch culprits.
“Even where we have the laws, we need stricter enforcement. I am sure that ICPC and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) will agree with me that we need effective enforcement. Even where the court has given the go ahead to take some assets, I do not want to go to what happens to those assets thereafter.
“I think we need to restructure the existing anti-corruption agencies. They need to be restructured, there is no doubt about. Sometimes we are over-burdened by staff. Do you need so many number of staff to be able to fight corruption? The answer is no. You do not. So we need restructuring of the antic-corruption agencies in Nigeria towards better focus and stricter execution of our laws. We need it. We need stricter execution. How we connect that with enforcement, I do not think, for now, we are applying ourselves enough in Nigeria. The enforcement agencies, government, individuals, we are not applying ourselves enough to the fight against corruption particularly in Nigeria.”
