Graft: Lawyer Urges Devolution Of Powers

A legal practitioner, Mr
Arthur Obi-Okafor, SAN, says devolution of powers among states or zones would allow the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) and other anti-graft agencies work efficiently.
Obi-Okafor made the call in Onitsha in an interview with newsmen, while speaking on ways to strengthen the anti-graft agencies in the fight against corruption.
“Some modest achievements have been made and the attitudes of Nigerians are beginning to change away from corruption and massive looting of the economy.
“There is no gain saying that EFCC is doing its best, considering the fact that Nigeria is a very large country.
“The police could not do all, that was why ICPC and EFCC came in.
“I believe that we can do more, if more facilities are provided; but fundamentally, because of the largeness of the country, it has become more difficult for them to solve more problems.”
According to him, Nigeria needs to consider physical or political restructuring for the anti-corruption crusade to record more gains.
“We need devolution of powers so that we can have these organs in the state to be able to do more than leaving the anti-graft agencies only at the federal level.
“President Muhammadu Buhari, with all the best intentions, cannot just seat in Abuja and be able to perceive all that is happening. Also, the EFCC can’t just seat in Abuja and oversee all the corruption cases going in the country; so, there is the need to have devolution of powers.
“Some argue about empowering the states all the more, while some talk about having it in regions; at least there is an agreement for restructuring.
“At the end, we can have a manageable size for every entity to do well,” the legal practitioner said.
Obi-Okafor, who said speedy trials of many corrupt cases were hampered by the absence of facilities in courts, called for the provision of such facilities to expedite court proceedings and proper emoluments of judges.
“We have new rules geared towards ensuring faster proceedings and dispensation of justice but government needs to do more in the area of facilities and emolument of judges,” Obi-Okafor added.