Acting
President Yemi Osinbajo yesterday said the Federal Government would remain
resolute in its fight against corruption in spite of the daunting challenges.
Osinbajo said
this in Lagos at the 5th Annual Christopher Kolade Lecture on
Business Integrity titled: ‘Prevention is better than Cure even on the Issue of
Corruption.’
The lecture
was organised by the Integrity Organisation Limited, an anti-corruption,
research and advocacy organisation concerned with public accountability and
transparency.
He restated
that the country must ensure that corruption is prosecuted, adding that in the
last two years, there have been many cases of persons accused of corruption who
have been taken to the courts.
“We have a
hardworking and courageous team as most of our law enforcement agencies and the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have worked commendably despite
daunting challenges.
“Of course
they are not perfect and there are several complaints, but what is obvious is
that they have focused on the work of investigation and prosecution and in
fact, very few convictions and there are several reasons for that,” he stated.
Osinbajo
added that the most notorious of the complaints were the delays in
administration of justice system mainly caused, sometimes by lawyers whose
defence strategy is delayed.
“Often,
Judges have indulged these tactics by not taking firm control of their courts
and witnesses being cross-examined for over a month.
“An
important lesson for any society that hopes to fight a successful war against
systemic corruption is that corruption will fight back viciously, using every
means possible, and sometimes, using the very constitutions that are created to
fight it,” he added.
He pointed
out that Nigeria had experienced and continued to experience that but the
antidote is single-minded commitment.
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