Well, I think there is no justice in Nigeria and when you talk about bringing looters to justice it doesn't make sense to me. The reason being that those who are hunted for stealing are those who doesn't play by the rules of APC.
Femi Odekunle, a professor of criminology and member, Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, PACAC, says contrary to the claim in some quarters, President Muhammadu Buhari has no reason to teleguide the anti-graft agencies. There’s the belief out there that the fight against corruption is not institutionalised, that it is being done arbitrarily. I agree that it should be institutionalised, more structured and more systemised.
This is because the issue of corruption has been so pervasive and so systemic; it has gone to the roots and we cannot and should not be seen to be approaching it in an adhoc manner. Therefore, I agree that there should be more vigour at institutionalising it and I know that efforts are going on to institutionalise the fight.
One of the items on the mandate of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, PCAC, is exactly that one. You know we are not operational, we are not an enforcement agency. We are like an intellectual think-tank of academics and intellectuals who are known to be against corruption.
What exactly do you do?
One of the things we do is to provide advisory to government on the anti-corruption fight. It is also to encourage a kind of paradigm shift among the agencies that fight corruption, whether in terms of equipping them with ideas or enhancing their capabilities or providing them with tools (not theoretical tools but tools in practical terms to encourage what we are doing), to make sure that people conceive, enforce, educate and deal with corruption in the context of a paradigm shift.
What Nigerians must understand is that corruption is not just like any other crime. It is a crime that is destroying us economically, politically and socially and, because it is so pervasive and systematic, you cannot adopt an adhoc approach to fighting it. It cannot just be a matter for the EFCC or the ICPC or President Buhari alone. It is a matter for everybody. The fight must be such that it involves almost every facet of our lives.
After all, the corruption in the public sector is just one dimension because there are many dimensions: Have you dealt with the private sector? Have you dealt with the banks? Have you dealt with the professions that collaborate with government agencies in perpetrating corruption. We are not there yet but we are making progress.
There is the other issue of the fight being selective, which, in itself, is corruption?
I do not go along with those who say the fight against corruption is selective. Look, let me tell you, though I do not have the figures, as a social scientist, I can safely say, in terms of prognosis, that all or most of those who say that the matter is almost over do not know what is going on. We are still just dealing with a tip of the iceberg.
But those who say the fight is selective have individuals they point at to make their point?
I do not think that is right. A bunch of senators are of the APC and they are in court and the case against them has not been dropped. The Senate President is one of them, he is in APC and he is in court.
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