Corruption not limited to politicians — UNILAG VC

Vice chancellor of University of Lagos (UNILAG), Akoka, Professor Folasade Ogunsola, has cautioned Nigerians not to always look at the corridors of political power as only location where corruption practices take place, saying corruption is virtually everywhere in the country.

She made this observation last Thursday at the international conference on anti-corruption hosted by the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Lagos, in collaboration with the Panafricana Strategic and Policy Research Group and the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC).

The theme of the conference was, ‘Politics, governance, probity, religion and corrupt behaviour in Nigeria,’ while Professor Babatunde Babawale was the guest speaker.

The vice chancellor described corruption as the abuse of entrusted power for personal gain which she said, comes with a mindset and not a culture.

She explained that corruption happens when individuals in positions of authority, whether in government, business, or other organisations use their influence unethically to benefit themselves or others at the expense of fairness, integrity, and the public good.

So, corruption, she pointed out, is about anything that reduces the level playing field so that all may excel or have access to opportunities.

Citing educational institutions as example, the vice chancellor said: “Issues like cheating during examinations, staff-aiding examination  malpractice, buying and selling of questions and answers, plagiarism, buying or selling of grades, students bribing lecturers or lecturers demanding for something unduly, favouring certain individuals based of family and ethnicity ties, friendships, or other personal interests are all form of corruption.”

She added that: “In research, data falsification or fabrication, ghost writing, unethical authorship, misuse of research funds, diverting grants or resources for personal gains, nepotism and cronyism, misallocation of resources, manipulating accreditation or rankings, falsifying data to improve the institution’s reputation are all form of corruption.

“Corruption is a mindset that will certainly manifest in people, who are corrupt once they have the opportunity.”

She commended the organisers of the conference, expressing optimism for its positive impact in the society.

In his welcome address, the Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, UNILAG, Professor Adelaja Odukoya, also bemoaned the high spate of corruption in the country, describing it as a national embarrassment.

According to him, the issue of corruption in Nigeria is no longer a case of the popular axiom that says ‘if we don’t kill corruption, corruption will kill Nigeria.”

As it is, he explained that “many Nigerians are losing their lives daily on account of the consequences of corrupt practices across spheres of our national life.

He said: “So, we must move from perception to impunity index and also change our legal template where somebody who is accused of financial corruption, for example, must have to prove his or her source of wealth and not the case beyond all reasonable doubt.”

He emphasised that “It is important we extricate our nation from the stronghold of corruption so that it won’t continue to keep the country perpetually poor and the time to do that is now.”

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Also speaking, a former Army Chief, General Ishola Willams (retd), lamented that corrupt practices keep getting worse each day rather than reducing globally.

He attributed this situation to some factors, chief of which he said is selfishness and greediness that make many accumulate resources that they don’t even need.

He said: “So many people, especially in public offices, always wait for opportunity to steal or loot without minding the consequences on the generality of people and the society.”

He noted that the issue is that most Nigerians are pretenders and hypocrites by claiming to be honest and persons of integrity, when they are actually not.

He said that people must change their mindsets and desist from corrupt practices for the country to have a working system.