A legal practitioner and public affairs analyst, Mr Wahab Shittu on Monday noted that it is difficult to fault the Transparency International ratings of countries around the world except you are able to come forward with statistics showing bias in the conduct of assessments and ratings.
Speaking in reaction to the position the agency ranked Nigeria amongst the 177 countries rated in the world, Mr Shittu said “that assessment shows that our corruption performance is worse than that of last year when we scored 27 points out of a possible 100 points” revealing that “this year we scored 25 points”.
Speaking as a guest on Channels Television’s flagship breakfast show, Sunrise Daily, he berated the fact that “we are coming down in terms of assessment”.
He listed factors considered by Transparency International as “abuse of power, secret dealings, bribery and embezzlement” adding that the “focus is on public sector corruption.
In spite of the ratings by Transparency International, Mr Shittu noted that it is imperative to assess the success achieved by anti-graft agencies especially the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)”.
Citing the bad reception public office holders give the ratings anytime it is released, he noted that corruption is a “global issue” and “Transparency International is a world body” insisting that it has its “own criteria”.
“In that criteria, some countries are judged the cleanest countries, so unless you can come up with statistics showing bias, it is difficult to fault what Transparency International has been doing in terms of this assessment” he said.
He also believes we need to do more particularly now that “our leaders have come forward to acknowledge that corruption is a major issue”.
Quoting from the September 2013 EFCC Report, he said “out of 368 cases that were taken to court in 2013, the EFCC was able to secure about 80 convictions” adding that “EFCC was able to make substantial (monetary) recoveries” within the period in view.
He added that the figures released by the anti- graft agency in December shows that “the EFCC has managed to secure about 1, 000 convictions” adding that the most recent is a local government chairman who was sent to six months in prison.
He however maintained that the fight against corruption “is not for the EFCC alone” insisting that “it is a collective fight”.
Mr Shittu said “whoever is responsible for underfunding the EFCC is doing a great disservice to our country” insisting that the executive and legislative arms of government should explain to Nigerians why the anti-graft agency is being starved of funds.
