Bauchi State governor, Senator Bala Mohammed, has said that any public or private official suspected of corruption will be made to face the full wrath of the law.
He said Bauchi State is now fully ready to deal with corrupt officials more than ever before as all the legal frameworks needed for the establishment of an Anti-Corruption Commission has been perfected and assented to.
The governor said this while signing into law two Bills for the establishment of the Public Complaints Commission and Anti-Corruption Commission at the Government House in Bauchi.
He said no case of corruption will go uninvestigated and unprosecuted if necessary at all levels of the State.
“With the establishment of the State Anti-corruption Commission, therefore, no case of corruption will be overlooked at the state and the local government levels,” he said.
Governor Mohammed said the establishment of the Commission, which is backed by law, was part of the effort of his administration to take advantage of the federal structure of the country as enshrined in the Constitution, which gives every State latitude to replicate functions that are also performed by federal agencies.
He explained that the Bauchi State Anti-Corruption Commission will play a complementary role to federal anti-corruption agencies in order to fight corruption in both social and economic sectors.
He said that the replication in the state of agencies that also exist at the federal level would greatly reduce the burden on the federal agencies, thereby making them more effective and efficient.
“Examples of such agencies include, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) which corresponds with the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) corresponding with State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), National Pension Commission (PenCom) and correspondingly the State Contributory Pension Scheme, among others.
“Similarly, the state agencies being
close to the people and more conversant with the local culture, traditions and terrain are better placed to handle local issues, especially in the areas of security, investigation or prosecution of offences,” the governor added.
He further noted that the establishment of the Commissions in the state and others at the subnational level would provide employment opportunities for the youth, thereby addressing security challenges, among others.
The governor said many States of the Federation have already domesticated the Anti-corruption law in order to ensure the administration of justice in their domains, adding that the State Anti-corruption Commission will handle cases of corruption at the state level due to the size of Nigeria which has burdened the EFCC and other federal agencies, leading to many cases remaining mostly uninvestigated and unfinished.
He added, “We have so many cases that we have submitted and some public-spirited individuals have done that but still they are not investigated and we have not gotten anything out of it to date due to the fact that there are so many of that cases with the ICPC and EFCC and the rest of the investigative agencies.
“Just like the Speaker has said, we have really studied all the already existing laws backing the States and the federal agencies and ensured that there is no conflict and we are doing it in furtherance of what was agreed even at the Governors Forum that such things be done at the state level so that we can bring enforcement and fight corruption in consonance with the drive of the current administration.”
Speaking earlier, the Speaker of the Bauchi State Assembly, Rt. Hon. Sulaiman Abubakar, said that the Bills were forwarded to the Assembly last month.
Represented by the Deputy Speaker, Danlami Kawule, the speaker noted that given the importance of the Bills, the Assembly collated many inputs before passing the Bills into.
“Your Excellency, I want to assure you that we consulted resource persons that have ideas on anti-corruption and other matters and finally this Bill has scaled the third reading and we enacted this Bill to become a law that is why we are here before you for your assent,” the Speaker said.
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