Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), on Thursday, January 3, lamented what he called the negligence of state governments to join the federal government in its fight against corruption.
Falana, who said this when he was featured on a show on Arise Television, said the fight cannot be limited to the federal government alone, The Cable reports.
He said: “In line with section 15, subsection 5 of the constitution, the provision says the Nigerian state shall abolish corrupt practices and abuse of office.
“That does not mean the federal government. The Nigerian state, including the federal government, state government and local government. But apart from the federal government, no state in Nigeria is fighting corruption.
“That’s why some of the state governments are saying they cannot pay minimum wage because they are not blocking the leakages going on. Kano state is the only state, this may interest you, has an anti-corruption commission. No other state in Nigeria.
“In fact, access to information is denied by all state governments in Nigeria apart from Ekiti state. Only Ekiti state government, under Fayemi, has adopted the freedom of information act.
“So, it’s difficult in any state to ask for information with respect to public affairs. So, you can’t just single out the federal government fighting corruption in a country where majority of state governments are not bothered.
“So, it will not be fair to limit the fight against corruption to the federal government. As a country, Nigeria has not decided to fight corruption.”
We earlier reported that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, boasted on Thursday, December 27, that it secured the conviction of no fewer than 312 Nigerians who were arrested and tried for various acts of corruption between January and December 24.
The anti-graft agency, in a statement by its acting spokesman, Tony Orilade, described the record of convictions as ‘undoubtedly’ a significant improvement on the 189 convictions recorded in 2017.
