Akunyili and Magu as examples
When
former President, Olusegun Obasanjo appointed Dora Akunyili as DG of NAFDAC in
April 2001, Akunyili started to reform NAFDAC from a docile Agency to a very active
one. It is instructive to note that the reforms she carried out at NAFDAC with
the support of the then President, Obasanjo was not because the President asked
her to reform NAFDAC, but it was because of her passion and love for her
country. She carried out her duties diligently without caring whose ox was
gored. She made a lot of Nigerians to be conscious of NAFDAC and its
activities. Nigerians began to check for expiry dates on products they wanted
to buy, especially drugs. NAFDAC became the most popular government agency
during her spell there. There were many Directors of Agencies and Heads of
Parastatals during her stint in NAFDAC, but Akunyili purposed in her heart to
distinguish herself from the crowd just like Daniel in the Holy Bible “who
purposed in his heart not to defile himself with the king’s meat”. Former President
Obasanjo, gave the same instruction he gave to Akunyili to other members of his
government; the difference is that Akunyili saw it as a responsibility and a
rare opportunity to solve a challenge Nigeria was plagued with.
Enter
Magu, a former Director of Operations at EFCC and now the Acting EFCC Chairman.
I see it as a mockery of the intelligence of Nigerians, to say that it is
because of Buhari’s anti-corruption stance that EFCC started doing their
already established work of going after corrupt Nigerians. It simply means that
the EFCC is telling Nigerians that once President Buhari is done with his
tenure and the next President is not anti-corruption inclined, then their job
will be left undone!
Lack of
strong institutions seems to be the major problem with the Nigerian system,
everybody is waiting for their leader to tell them to do their work, not
minding the fact that their salary is statutory. That explains the reason why
everything seemed to be on standstill during the last year of Yar’Adua as
President. Until the Doctrine of Necessity was used as a political solution.
US
President Barack Obama once said that Africa
needs strong institutions and not strong leaders. It goes to say that
once we have strong institutions, Nigerians would not be too bothered about the
posture of the President, because institutions will function properly whether
the President is interested or not. It is obvious to everyone in Nigeria that
the EFCC will go back to sleep once Buhari leaves office, which should not be
the case.
EFCC
has not been successful in prosecuting corrupt government officials, simply
because EFCC have been building a house from the roof downwards, instead of
building from the foundation upwards. EFCC has been prosecuting suspected
corrupt government officials in the media, instead of gathering enough evidence
first. We all know that after all the media trial, you still have to go to
court to prove your case and sadly that is when EFCC starts to gather evidence.
An accused person is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
The way
forward is for EFCC to stop all the media trial that takes no one to jail, EFCC
should gather enough evidence and assemble a good prosecuting team before
heading to court. It is foolishness to continue to apply the same method that
has yielded no positive result and be expecting things to change. Magu should
focus on building EFCC into a strong institution just like Akunyili did with
NAFDAC.
Nigeria
can have strong institutions once people in authority and citizens alike take
it as a responsibility to do the right thing irrespective of the posture of the
President in power.
