Corruption: Don Recommends African Traditional Oath-taking System, Capital Punishment

A Professor of Political Science and Rector of Kogi State Polytechnic, Lokoja, Prof. Salisu Ogbo Usman, has called for the incorporation of the African traditional oath-taking system in dispensing oaths to public officeholders, to check escalating and mindless corruption in the country.

Prof. Usman made the call while delivering the 37th Inaugural Lecture series of the Federal University Lokoja (FUL) titled: “Corruption Versus Corruption: Unpacking the Wuru-Wuru of Anti-Corruption Crusade in Nigeria.”

He pointed out that the African traditional oath-taking system, prior to colonial rule, proved to be one of the most effective deterrents against corruption.

Historically, he said, violations attracted immediate and often inter-generational consequences in contrast to the contemporary oath-taking system anchored on imported religious texts, which defers accountability to the hereafter.

“Nigeria can be fixed before the hereafter through constitutional provisions mandating the incorporation of indigenous oath-taking systems”, he asserted.

Prof. Ogbo Usman also urged the Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in the country to exert sustained pressure on the political class to pursue a constitutional review and amendments that would introduce capital punishment, including the death penalty.

“Notably, many countries with low corruption perception indices retain capital punishment within their Criminal justice systems”, he said.

The development-inclined Rector of Kogi State Polytechnic also called for the establishment of dedicated Centres or Institutes for the Study of Corruption within Nigerian universities, given the scale and pervasiveness of corruption in the country.

Prof. Usman further urged the CSOs to spearhead a robust campaign against the politicisation of the Prerogative of Mercy by the Executive for individuals convicted of corruption-related offences.

“This practice, observed across successive administrations since 1999, has trivialised the fight against corruption and systematically undermined the efforts of anti-corruption agencies”, he submitted.

The Political Scientist who had done extensive research with many publications on corruption attributed the widespread prevalence of corruption to institutional weakness and weak enforcement mechanisms of the various anti-corruption agencies.

He also called for the strengthening of institutions through genuine autonomy, transparency, checks and balances, and taxation-based accountability to reduce reliance on resource rents.

Earlier in his opening address, Prof. Olayemi Akinwumi Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University Lokoja, described the title of the lecture, “Corruption Versus Corruption: Unpacking the Wuru-Wuru of Anti-Corruption Crusade in Nigeria” as apt.

He said that the country has continued to wrestle with the challenges of corruption and the contradictions that often surround the fight against it, adding that, “The theme before us speaks directly to our lived realities.”

“It invites us to look beyond slogans and headlines, and to examine the structures, motives and practices that shape our anti-corruption efforts. More importantly, it reminds us that the fight against corruption is not the duty of the government alone.

“Through our teaching, our research, our administrative conduct, and our daily interactions, we must model integrity, transparency, and accountability. We must raise a generation that not only condemns corruption in words, but rejects it in practice”, he said.