The Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, said the country needed strong, independent, decentralised and impartial anti-corruption agencies, operating within rules and tradition. Ekweremadu said this at a public service lecture he delivered at the University of Ibadan on Friday night. The lecture, which was organised by the university’s alumni association, took place at the Trenchard Hall of the institution.

Ekweremadu spoke on “Federalism and The Legal Framework for Combating Corruption in Nigeria.” He said strong anti-corruption institutions would give hope to citizens, adding that issues of corruption and the concerns were as old as Nigeria itself. According to him, corruption has shown no sign of abating in Nigeria despite the various anti-corruption efforts by successive governments.

“Dealing with corruption is difficult and challenging, but it is not without hope either. We need a far-reaching and in-depth re-orientation. Importantly, Nigeria being a federation, the war against corruption must itself be developed and generalized, not centralized as it is currently the case,” the deputy senate president said.

Ekweremadu said the country should allow each state to set up its own policing system as it was the norm in other federal jurisdictions such as the United States and Canada. “Decentralised policing will make the task of preventing, detecting, investigating and prosecuting certain offences and small scale corruption matter easier,” he added.

NAN