The Chief Judge of Kwara State, Justice Sulyman Kawu, and the President, Third Estate, Ilorin Emirate, Dr. Yusuf Lawal, have said corruption has assumed critical and dangerous dimension and is posing a serious threat to national survival.
They spoke on Sunday on the sidelines of the 17th annual lecture of Third Estate in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.
Kawu stated that there were many challenges in the fight against corruption, stressing that extra-ordinary solutions should be adopted to eradicate or at least tame the menace.
He said a section of the society had alleged that lawyers explored the loopholes in Nigerian laws to delay or even frustrate the trial of corruption cases.
Kawu called on lawyers to assist in the administration of justice and not give in to the temptation of seeking frivolous injunctions and unnecessary adjournments to ensure that such fraud cases were never concluded as some had alleged.
The CJ believed that for the fight against corruption to be efficient and effective, there should be reforms in the police, the judiciary and the civil service.
He added that there should be national re-orientation of the citizens to encourage honesty, discipline and loyalty to national objectives above such considerations as tribe and religion.
He also advocated the introduction of credible public complaints system, explaining that this would require the establishment of offices of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Commission at ward, local government and states.
Kawu said, “The price for accepting corruption as a way of life is what we have been paying in terms of unemployment of our teeming youths, poor roads, ill equipped hospitals, gradual criminalisation of the entire society and many more.”
Lawal urged elected and appointed government officials to uphold the constitution to which they had sworn to carry out their duties conscientiously.
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