The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged President Muhammad Buhari to stop his blame shifting and take full responsibility for the poor ranking in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI).
Following the 2020 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) report by the Transparency International (TI) released last week, the presidency has refuted the report, stating that the report:
“… is not an accurate portrayal of the facts on ground. In the coming days, the Government’s Technical Unit on Governance Research (TUGAR) will be providing more detailed information on the sources of the TI data.”
According to the report, Nigeria falls from 146th position in 2019 to 149th in 2020 on the CPI score-sheet.
In response to the Presidency’s reactions, SERAP said the TI’s CPI report clearly corresponds with several corrupt cases going on in the nation.
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Highlighting some instances of corrupt practices that need to be addressed, SERAP said:
“TI’s findings correspond substantially with the reality of impunity of perpetrators, as shown for example, by the persistent failure to obey court judgments, such as the judgment of Justice Idris which ordered release of spending details of recovered stolen assets since 1999.
“Several former state governors accused of corruption are still not held to account. Yet, many of these governors continue to receive life pensions.
Similarly, public officials still use political power to enrich themselves without considering the public good.”
The non-governmental organisation thereby urges that the government should:
“Take the report seriously and use it as an opportunity to raise their game in their efforts to rid our country of corruption and underdevelopment.”
It also added that the “government should obey court judgments, end life pensions for former state governors, stop corruption in security votes spending, and address corruption in MDAs, if Nigeria is ever going to improve on its global anti-corruption ranking.”
