The Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Professor Bolaji Owasanoye, has said that corruption was the greatest challenge of the country at the moment.
Professor Owasanoye, who spoke at a capacity building workshop for members of the House of Representatives Committee on Anti-Corruption, in Abuja, said that corruption was responsible for all the negative indexes the country is known for.
He observed, “Corruption is the enemy of development and good governance. Corruption is Nigeria’s greatest challenge and is directly associated with national security challenges, current economic decline, poverty expansion, reduced life expectancy, high mortality and deteriorating livelihood experienced by citizens.”
He said that there was an urgent need to tackle the problems through concerted efforts from both state and non-state actors for a better Nigeria to emerge.
He urged the National Assembly to deploy its oversight powers on government agencies and departments as well as its legislative control over public expenditure and audit of public accounts to effectively curb corruption in the public sector.
According to him, “The fight against corruption is our collective responsibility and not the duty of the government alone. We must visualise the type of country and environment that we want to live in and bequeath to generations yet unborn.
“Our immediate objective is to reduce corruption in our life-time to such an extent that it can no longer threaten our collective well-being, peace, development. The legislature can lead us to our collective vision through its constitutional mandate” he concluded.
