Group Seeks Religious Leaders’ Support On Anti-graft War

An inter-faith group of Muslims and Christians under the aegis of Interreligious Coalition Against Corruption in Nigeria (ICACN) has challenged religious leaders to include anti-corruption messages in their preaching to reduce corruption cases in the country.

The group berated religious leaders for not doing enough in the fight against corruption.

The group described religious leaders as men of influence who ought to use their influence to instill moral values in the society but regretted that the reverse is often the case.

ICACN coordinator, Bishop Gospel Emmah Isong, who spoke alongside his Islamic counterpart, Imam Abdulkarim Shefiu, who also spoke on virtual zoom advocated the ‘carrot and stick approach’ as a way to instill moral values in the society and met out sanctions to erring citizens.

The workshop organised by ICACN in conjunction with MacArthur Foundation had a guest speaker/ US-based academic, Prof Iboro Udoh, who called for attitudinal change to get rid of the corruption-cankerworm which he said has eaten deep into the fabrics of the society.

Speaking yesterday on the topic, “Promoting Accountability and Anti-corruption Through Behaviour Change Approaches” at the defunct Anti-tax Conference Hall, Calabar, she averred that if messages of anti-graft were preached on a daily basis in churches and mosques, perpetrators of the act could turn a new leaf.

“Corruption cannot be tackled by only the government, it can also be tackled by all; we must collaborate with the right people.

“We urge religious and community leaders to join hands with the people to intensify the fight against corruption” she pleaded adding “corruption is worse than diarrhoea.”