Stakeholders Call For Political Participation To Tackle Corruption

Stakeholders in the anti-corruption network have called for active political participation by the citizens in order to tackle corruption.

Speaking at a one-day stakeholders inception meeting on Nigeria anti-corruption performance public reporting project in Abuja on Tuesday, the executive director, Centre for Media, Policy and Accountability (CMPA), Dr. Suleiman Amu Suleiman said political participation is the first line of participation in anti-corruption fight.

He argued that for one to achieve the necessary and desired results in anti-corruption, one must be involved in the political activities so that one’s voice will be heard.

Speaking on CMPA’s project on Nigerian Anti-Corruption Performance Public Reporting (NAPPR), Dr Suleiman said it is aimed at bridging the gap between anti-corruption agencies and other stakeholders through research, advocacy, training and capacity building.

Also, the country director, MacArthur foundation, the sponsor of the programme, Kole Shettima said they are focused on anti-corruption because it affects all aspects of lives.

He said they are supporting the CMPA programme because its activities tend to address corruption and MacArthur foundation is focused on improving lives of the citizens.

The secretary to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Crimes Commission (ICPC), Professor Usman Abubakar expressed dissatisfaction with some of the measures used to rate corruption in Nigeria and called for more efforts to address corruption across the country.

Also, another speaker, Professor Sola Akinrinade lamented that the activities of anti-corruption campaign in Nigeria is not properly reported and called for consented efforts at improving this.