The office of the Special Adviser to the President on Ethics and Values, in partnership with Global Network Monitoring and Development Initiatives organized a one day National Summit on Anti – Corruption, Ethics and Values.
The occasion was meant for Local Government Chairmen and senior members of Local Governments. The main lecture of the day was; “The Challenges of Corruption, Ethics and Values in the 21st Century Nigeria and the Necessity for a Legal Framework.” The presenter, Dr. John Alabi Esq. in his lecture defined corruption as, “Global problem which no country in the world is totally free of its menacing grip.” He categorized corruption into four types thus; political corruption, Bureaucratic corruption, Electoral corruption, and Economic / Business corruption. He also suggested some solution to curbing the effect of corruption. He suggested putting in place a ‘Clear legislations dealing with corrupt judges must be made not statutes or procedures subsumed in a code of conduct which are implemented by judges alone and some of whom may be corrupt.”
After the summit, some LG chairmen spoke to newsmen. One of them is Hon. Tukura Bashiru, the Executive Chairman of Gassol Local Government of Taraba State. He frowned at the attitude of some Nigerians when it comes to time management. He told newsmen that he was at the venue by 7am while the event started by 11am. On the other hand, he commended the quality of papers presented at the summit, and rated them as good. Another issue he detested and labeled it as corruption was the manner a court in Lagos transferred the money seized from former governor of Delta State, James Ibori, to Federal Government.
Another Chairman that spoke with newsmen was Hon. Abubakar. G. Umar Birnin – Tudu, the executive chairman of Augie Local Government Area of Kebbi State. On the issue of corruption he said that a person who collects more money and fails to do more work is corrupt. The former three – time State Assembly member, who is doing a third time as LG. Chairman told newsmen that he had been able to do a lot of things with little money he got from the Federal Government.
Among his achievement are; 25km tarred road, 35km feeder road, modern hospital. He said that he had done capital projects over worth over two billion naira. On the issue of autonomy of Local Government, he said he was in full support of such noble gesture. When he was challenged on the things he had done, he told newsmen to make out time and visit his local government for on the spot assessment.
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