morganable politics/Governance
Obasanjo traced his long-standing involvement in anti-corruption efforts to his early years in the military, where he served as a prosecutor under military law and participated in court-martial proceedings involving corruption cases.
KaNo—
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has warned that corruption continues to deepen poverty and obstruct development in Nigeria, insisting that societies that tolerate illicit wealth cannot achieve meaningful progress.
Obasanjo made the remarks on Monday in Lagos while chairing the public presentation of a book titled “Unexplained Wealth: A Trilogy of Nigerian Financial Law,” authored by Wahab Shittu. The event, held at the Orient Hotel, drew legal practitioners, policymakers and anti-corruption advocates.
Speaking at the gathering, the former president said corruption remained fundamentally incompatible with development, describing it as a destructive force that undermines progress at all levels of society.
“Whichever way it is described, it is anti-social, it is anti-development, it is anti-progress. It is not in the best interest of any country or any human organisation,” he said.
Obasanjo emphasised that the impact of corruption falls disproportionately on the less privileged, noting that those at the lowest levels of society often bear the brunt of governance failures.
“Those who suffer most in a corrupt society are the lower class”he said
The elder statesman traced his long-standing involvement in anti-corruption efforts to his early years in the military, where he served as a prosecutor under military law and participated in court-martial proceedings involving corruption cases.
According to him, those experiences shaped his understanding of the dangers posed by financial misconduct in public institutions.
He said his commitment to fighting corruption deepened after leaving office as a military head of state and venturing into farming, when he was approached by Peter Eigen, a former World Bank official.
Obasanjo recalled that Eigen sought his collaboration after witnessing widespread diversion of funds meant for development projects during his time at the World Bank.
That interaction, he said, led to the establishment of Transparency International, one of the world’s leading anti-corruption bodies.
“He came to me and said, ‘I want you to join me in fighting corruption.’ I had never met him before,” Obasanjo recounted.
He noted that he later became chairman of the organisation’s Advisory Council, while Eigen served as its chairman, as they worked to build global momentum against corruption.
The former president also recounted their early efforts to secure international backing for the initiative, including an approach to Robert McNamara, who initially expressed scepticism about the feasibility of their mission.
“He said, ‘You two are trying to do the impossible,’” Obasanjo recalled, adding that McNamara later pledged support if they could demonstrate tangible results.
According to him, the founders of Transparency International subsequently travelled across regions, including Latin America, Asia and Africa, to mobilise support and raise awareness about the dangers of corruption.
One of their early campaigns, Obasanjo said, targeted the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, which at the time permitted companies to treat bribes paid abroad as tax-deductible expenses.
“We decided that the first thing we ought to do is to get OECD not to support money paid for corruption to be deducted for tax purposes,” he said.
He noted that after nearly three years of advocacy, the OECD abolished the practice, marking a significant milestone in the global fight against corruption and boosting the credibility of Transparency International.
Reflecting on his tenure as Nigeria’s civilian president, Obasanjo highlighted efforts made under his administration to institutionalise anti-corruption measures.
He said his government established the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission using a model law obtained from Transparency International.
“I went to Transparency International, and they gave me a model of a law. And that law brought about ICPC,” he said.
However, he disclosed that the proposed legislation faced stiff resistance in the National Assembly, as some lawmakers feared its implications.
“They said to me that if they pass the Bill as I gave it to them, most of them will end up in prison,” he stated.
Obasanjo explained that it took about 18 months for the lawmakers to eventually pass the bill, underscoring the challenges often associated with implementing reforms in governance.
To further strengthen Nigeria’s anti-corruption framework, he said his administration later established the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
“Then to strengthen it, I came up with the EFCC,” he said, drawing applause from the audience.
He also commended the pioneer chairman of the EFCC, Nuhu Ribadu, describing him as a committed corruption fighter whose leadership helped shape the agency’s early successes.
Obasanjo noted that Shittu’s trilogy addressed three critical pillars in tackling illicit wealth: law, prosecution, and recovery, adding that strengthening these components was essential to effectively curbing corruption.
According to him, Nigeria had taken significant steps to combat corruption even before the United Nations adopted a global anti-corruption framework.
“It took about three or four years for the global body, the United Nations, to propose and pass the anti-corruption framework and mandate each country to make laws against corruption. So, we were even ahead,” he said.
Despite these efforts, the former president stressed that corruption remains deeply entrenched and continues to hinder national development.
He maintained that while no country has completely eradicated corruption, many have succeeded in preventing it from becoming systemic.
“There’s nowhere in the world where corruption is totally eliminated. But there are many places where corruption is not allowed to grow,” he said.
Obasanjo urged Nigerian authorities and other African governments to strengthen institutions, enforce laws and sustain political will in addressing corruption.
“We cannot make progress in our development as long as we allow corruption to lead,” he warned.
He said his decision to chair the book launch was driven by his conviction that corruption remains one of the greatest impediments to development, adding that intellectual contributions such as Shittu’s work were vital in advancing the anti-corruption discourse.
Obasanjo congratulated the author on the publication, describing it as a timely contribution to ongoing efforts to combat illicit financial flows and promote accountability.
He called on stakeholders across sectors to support initiatives aimed at strengthening governance, noting that the fight against corruption requires collective responsibility.
The event concluded with renewed calls from participants for stronger enforcement of anti-corruption laws and greater transparency in public finance management, as Nigeria continues to grapple with economic challenges linked to systemic corruption.
