With five ex-governors being
arrested by Nigeria’s top anti-corruption agency (EFCC), the key question is
will the cases be seen to completion? Will any of these prosecutions be
successful? Is Nigeria’s judiciary ready for this new challenge? According to records
on the EFCC website, there was only one conviction linked to the misuse of public
funds in 2014, that conviction took 9 years from the day of being charged to
court through to conviction. The length of time taken to secure convictions is
too long.
The conviction of corrupt
politicians or government officials will send a message to current political
office holders that it is no longer business as usual. The judiciary system
will need to be reformed to ensure that there is an increase in the number of
convictions particularly those that involve corrupt politicians or anyone
caught misusing public funds. The current government should fast track
corruption cases that involve current or past political office holders. This
may involve setting up special courts for handling corruption cases. An
effective judiciary is crucial to the fight against corruption. Letting the
beast loose is a good first step but we need to make sure that the beast has
teeth.
For those interested, please see link to EFCC’s 2014
convictions:
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