The Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Epe Branch, Dr. S.O. Jimoh, has said employing as many as five million operatives into Nigeria’s anti-graft agencies will still not end corruption unless the country addresses the deeper issue of indiscipline.
Jimoh made the remark during an exclusive interview with The Octopus News TV, a sister platform of The Octopus News, where he spoke on the challenges facing the fight against corruption in the country.
According to him, expanding the workforce of agencies such as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) will not automatically translate to an end to corrupt practices.
He argued that corruption is deeply rooted in the nation’s culture of indiscipline, noting that the agencies themselves recruit from the same society struggling with the problem.
“The more you employ people into the EFCC or the ICPC, you may simply be employing more individuals who are products of a corrupt environment,” he said.
Jimoh, however, acknowledged the efforts of the current EFCC leadership, Ola Olukoyede, stating that the chairman of the commission is doing his best under difficult circumstances.
“The more he fights corruption, corruption will fight back,” he added.
The NBA chairman explained that corruption should be viewed as a consequence of deeper societal issues rather than the primary problem itself.
“Corruption is a fruit, not the seed or the tree. Indiscipline is what fuels corruption. Fighting corruption alone is like cutting the leaves of a tree. If you want to uproot corruption completely, you must first tackle indiscipline,” he said.
Jimoh maintained that until Nigeria establishes and enforces a minimum standard of discipline in public and private life, corruption will continue to persist regardless of the number of operatives deployed to fight it.
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