Leadership by example most effective way to fight corruption ―Keyamo

The spokesman of the Buhari Campaign Organization, Festus Keyamo has advocated that exemplary leadership is the most effective tool in the war against corruption in Nigeria.

Speaking at a symposium organised by Rivers Unity House yesterday in Port Harcourt, the Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), argued that strong institutions were not enough to effectively fight against corruption without the backing of an exemplary leader who is ready to implement anti-corruption policies and legislations.

He spoke in response the assertion by Prof. Eme Ekekwe who while speaking on the topic “Leadership, Governance and Nation Building posited that Nigeria’s current war on corruption should not be made President Buhari’s war but that of entire Nigeria.

Keyamo said ” What the leader does himself galvanizes the people more. Leadership by example is the issue, it is only when you show us that we will follow you. This is the crisis of leadership our country is going through”.

Speaking on the symposium theme “Corruption as an issue in Nigeria’s Development Crisis” he noted that corruption has become a very big issue in the country, he said that the nation’s problems are not ethnicity or religion erroneously believed.

He said; “if you see them (politicians) cross from one party to the other, it’s not that there is a disagreement on principles, it is because they want to see where to eat from”.

“Nigerian politicians are united in corruption”, he declared warning, “any politician that does not make anti-corruption his cardinal principle, run away from him”.

He also stated that Due Process offices were established in the different states of the federation as but lamented that the challenge was that of the implementation of the anti-corruption laws.

He reeled out some of the achievements of the President Buhari’s anti-graft war saying that the administration has achieved 90% of compliance with TSA adding that that was why JAMB which could only remit N51-million between 2010 and 2016 was able to remit N7-billiion in 2017 alone.

Keyamo also reiterated that the Federal Government through the EFCC had recovered a total of N794-billiion, $261-million, £115.2- million and €8.169-million. The government according to him also recovered 407 mansions, 100 other property including 9 filling stations, among others, seized from corrupt elements.

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Earlier Prof Eme Ekekwe,  a senior lecturer at the University of Port Harcourt, said Nigeria was plagued by the leadership deficit across the world saying “we have people in government who occupy leadership position but do not understand what it is all about”.

He stressed “leadership is a catalyst and it is more than an individual. We must begin to see ourselves as people who can control their leaders. Development in a multi-ethnic and cultural country we find ourselves if for every group to find fulfilment, not about building of roads, hospitals”.

“We political machines and not political parties, an instrument for achieving power. That is the reason they are jumping from one party to another and not feel ashamed or lose anything” Prof. Ekekwe added.

In his goodwill message, Tonye Cole, the APC governorship candidate for the 2019 elections stated that despite the global perception of Nigeria as a corrupt country that something could be done.

He advocated the use of technology to reduce corruption saying that technology can help to remove the bottlenecks in the system saying that bottlenecks provide the platform for corruption. “Wherever there is bottleneck there is corruption”.

Cole said the second step to reducing corruption was to sit down with the business community and find ways to further increase the ease of doing business in the country.