The Chairman, Independent Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Commission (ICPC), Prof Bolaji Owasanoye, on Friday, in Lagos, bared his mind on the proposed creation of state police in the country, saying it is only such policing arrangement that can help tackle effectively, the internal security challenges confronting the country.
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He stated this on a sideline of a conference where he delivered a keynote address on “Governance, Leadership and Ethics: How to build a thriving economy.”
The programme, organised by the Integrity Organisation and held in Lekki, has people in government and private sectors including the media, business and civil society groups in the country, as participants.
According to him, the truth must be told, it is high time Nigeria created state police as such policing system alongside adequate funding of the regular police force is the way forward to combat the security challenges facing us as a country.
“Though, there is a need to create more wealth for people to engage in meaningful economic activities, people who are perpetrating crimes at any degree or level are not from the moon but living within communities, villages and all that and preventing them from criminal activities will be much easier with the state police ” he stressed.
The anti-graft boss, who said corruption remained major Nigeria’s problem in both the public and private sectors, noted that the situation had (and is) really suppressing the development across sectors of the economy.
“And all these are mainly because people across various endeavours lack integrity,” he quipped.
Professor Owasanoye, while disclosing that ICPC is also being financially incapacitated like every other government agency and department to do much as people might be expected, said even at that, and also that the agency could not prosecute everybody just as applicable elsewhere around the world,, the agency still do its best within its limited resources,.
“The only thing is that government should give more funding priority to agencies like ours and the regular security agencies to enable us to do better,” he said.
Owasanoye, who called on all Nigerians to jointly fight corruption, however, berated particularly successive northern state governors for what he called their failure to provide good education and human capital development as well healthcare delivery to the people in the region.
He said the situation draws the entire country backward and therefore urged those in power to rise up to the task by making live worth living for the people in the region.
Earlier in his address of welcome, Vice- Chairman, Convention on Business Integrity of the group, Mr Osaro Eghobamien, said the essence of the conference was to proffer workable solution to the endemic corruption and unethical practices he said had pervaded the land.
He reasoned that every business in government and private circle irrespective of size can only thrive and sustain its development in a society with a high level of integrity among its citizenry from top to the bottom of the ladder.
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