‘No Framework To Tackle Corruption In Nigeria’

In the face of the on-going
fight against corruption, a legal luminary, George Etomi, has stated that Nigeria does not have proper regulatory framework to tackle corruption, bribery and money laundering.
Etomi, who stated this recently at a public lecture organised by the “advancement and Linkages Centre” in the Faculty of Law, Rivers State University of Science and Technology (RSUST), also gave reasons for the state of affairs in the country.
In his lecture titled “Emerging Trends in Globalised Legal Practice,” Etomi gave the reasons to include ineffective law enforcement and the incidence of corruption among law enforcement officials, and lack of protection for whistleblowers.
Others are excessive bureaucratic and administrative red tape which makes bribery and corruption an inevitability, as well as multiplicity of regulatory bodies and legislation.
It also includes bribery and facilitation being seen as the “Culture” or a widespread necessity in doing business and conducting transactions.
For the fight against corruption to yield the required result, therefore, he recommended reduction in bureaucratic and administrative red tape to reduce the need for facilitation and payment to expedite processes.
According to Etomi, there is also the need for ethical trainings for law enforcement officials, and increased protection for whistle-blowers to encourage legal practioners to flag transactions that are suspicious.
These, he continued, will be enhanced by an increased awareness of know your customer requirements, and possible unification or  collaboration of different anti-corruption agencies  into one department to tackle corruption.
At the international level, Etomi recommended that countries should monitor physical cross-border transportation of cash and bearer instruments without impeding the freedom of capital movement.
Finally, he urged for less corrupt countries to boost their efforts in assisting more corrupt countries in streamlining their anti-corruption legislation and enforcement.
In his welcome address, Dean of the Faculty of Law, Professor Nlerum S Okogbule, had harped on the need to maximize on the benefits of globalization as regards opportunities provided in relation to legal practice.
“The crucial question is how best can we maximize the opportunities provided by globalization in relation to legal practice? That is the challenge facing us today, especially those of us from the developing countries of the world”, he said.