Acting President Yemi Osinbajo yesterday recommended four strategies to tackle corruption in Nigeria, saying they were best practices that had worked elsewhere.
The acting president was speaking at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa in Abuja during the National Dialogue on Corruption themed “The Limitless Ramifications of Corruption”.
According to him, the first step is to ensure the integrity of the entire justice system so that the judges, lawyers, clerks and others are not corrupt.
“Everybody is involved. How judges are appointed. Not on a man-knows-man basis. Aside from the DSS investigation, there should be particular test and proper investigation of candidates to be appointed as judges.
“In some of the systems that we inherited the UK system for instance, there is a process of almost 17 different tests before you can become a judge of the High Court,” he explained.
The acting president recommended the general welfare of the judges; that is, the general remuneration of judicial officers as the second step.
Osinbajo also suggested that any judge accused of an infraction be investigated and prosecuted through the National Judicial Council in order to avoid political influence.
He said the fourth way out of corruption was that the executive, the legislature and the judiciary must collaborate to put models that would work in place.
He also urged foreign countries where Nigeria’s stolen assets were kept to return them immediately.
According to Osinbajo, the cooperation of the international community “is one of the critical issues in our fight against corruption.”
