By Thompson Yamput
Death penalty is said to be the best option in tackling all corrupt officials in Nigeria if the country’s corruption crusade is anything to take serious.
Prof. Salusu Usman, Rector, Kogi State Polytechnic, made the assertion during the 37th Inaugural Lecture of Federal University Lokoja (FUL) held at the Adankolo Campus on Thursday.
The thene of Prof. Usman’s inaugural lecture is, “Corruption Versus Corruption: Unpacking The Wuru-Wuru of the Anti-Corruption Crusade In Nigeria.”
The Professor of Political Science argued that the best way to deal with corruption in Nigeria is for death penalty to be slammed on any citizen found guilty of corruption.
“As a panacea, corrupt practices should be rated as a capital offence in Nigeria’s legal system so as to discourage people from embarking on the negative trend that has caused havoc, devastating effect and setbacks on the nation’s growth.
“Corruption persists in Nigeria despite numerous agencies, because of the politicisation of anti-corruption agencies (targeting opponents), and abuse of plea bargains as escape routes for the wealthy.
“Government must reframe anti-corruption efforts beyond performative campaigns and shift focus from targeting individuals to systemic reform and prevention.
“Institutions must be strengthened through genuine autonomy, transparency, checks and balances, and taxation-based accountability to reduce reliance on resource rents, ” he said.
Earlier in his remarks, FUL Vice-Chancellor (VC), Prof Olayemi Akinwumi, commended Prof Usman for the lecture, whose theme he noted speaks directly to today’s life realities.
The VC said, “More importantly, it reminds us that the fight against corruption is not the duty of government alone.
“As a university and as academics, we must be ready and committed to contribute our quota to nip corruption in the bud.
“Through our teaching, our research, our administrative conduct, and our daily interactions, we must model integrity, transparency, and accountability.
“We must raise a generation that not only condemns corruption in words, but rejects it in practice.” (ephemeralnews.com.ng)
