Corruption Cannot Be Completely Tackled From The Top, It Has To Be Confronted From The Grassroots-Adeniran

By Ayobami Agboola, Osogbo

The Executive Chairman, Centre for Anti Corruption and Open Leadership, (CACOL), Comrade Debo Adeniran, has said corruption cannot be completely tackled from the top, it has to be confronted from the grassroots

Adeniran stated this in Osogbo at the feedback of the capacity building workshop for anti corruption crusaders at the grassroot level.

The forum had earlier organized a capacity building workshop for anti corruption crusaders at the grassroot level and it was a forum where the implications of corruption on economic social and political development of the country were discussed.

The workshop which had representatives from different pressure groups around Osun state dwelt more on the importance of grassroot dwellers getting involved in the fight against the prevalence of corruption in Nigeria.

Speaking on the feedback gathered from the participants, Adeniran said they were satisfied with the feedback, adding that fight against corruption needs grassroots support to have bite.

The Executive Chairman said all hands must be on deck to ensure that the menace of corruption is kicked out of the country. He added that to maximise impact, citizens need to be fully involved and aware of anti-graft strategies because they are ideally placed to challenge corruption at the local level.

According to Adeniran, citizens need a minimum understanding of their rights and entitlements in order to evaluate public service performance. Capacity building to ensure citizens have this information is therefore essential in social accountability initiatives.

Adeniran who noted that grassroots elements play significant roles in the fight against corruption said there was the need for people to be duly involved in driving the fight against corruption at the grassroot level.

“We are satisfying with the feedback , if people at the grassroot would have engaged their state actors and questioning them on how they have utilised the resources that are available to them and to have expressed their dissatisfaction when they are dissatisfied, and praise the government where they have performed well. Without the support and efforts of the people at the grassroot, it would be very difficult to curb corruption in our society.

“We have done public lectures, we have organized capacity building workshops for all the participants here and the present section is to call for feedback on how are they utilizing the training that they have gotten on how to curb corruption using grassroot paradigm

“Corruption is claimed to be fought at the upper echelon of the society and we discovered not much have been achieved using the upper class of the society , so we are now changing the paradigm to grassroots because grassroots elements have a lot to play they have a lot of information that they can extract facts from. They have the background of those that are governing them , they know how much they could have made from their legitimate earning and what they would have utilized it for.

“So we have to build their capacity to recognise corruption in different form, different size, different types and different kinds, different access, how to identify it and who to report to and how to give evidence of corruption against those who have corrupt in the society.”

Reacting to the recent report by the Social-Economic Right and Accountability in Nigeria ( SERAP) which ranked Nigeria police force, judiciary , health ministry, education and power sector as the top five most corrupt institutions in Nigeria CACOL Executive Chairman said corruption crime is not something that can be fought and conquered overnight, it takes graduate process.

He noted that the present administration led by President Muhammad Buhari has done well in its bid to get the country rid of corruption, described Buhari anti corruption crusade as the best means of repositioning the country for economic development.

According to the introduction of BVN and TSA has made it difficult for public servants to have multiple bank accounts , adding that many Nigerian looters are already abandoning their loots as they find it difficult to utilise the proceeds of the corruption.

He hinted that president Muhammad Buhari anti corruption fight has recorded significant achievements in the area of corruption hence the need to sustain the tempo.

Charging Nigerians to always hold political leaders into account ,Adeniran called on Nigerians to develop right attitude towards the fight against corruption and see the fight as collective responsibility.

Some participants at the programme said the training has helped them to enhance their knowledge on the best way to control corruption especially at the grassroot.