Speaker of Kwara State House of Assembly, Ali Ahmad has noted that the major task of President Muhammadu Buhari should be how to ensure that corruption fighting process is institutionalised, adding that until that was done the menace would cease to be part of Nigerian system.
Ahmad in an interview with journalists shortly after the opening ceremony of the 2016 biennial Law week of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ilorin Branch on Tuesday stressed that until the process is reformed, the country is wasting its time.
He however added that fighting the menace which had eaten deep into the country’s system should not be personalised and must equally be supported by every Nigerians for success to be recorded.
The Speaker said: “President Muhammadu Buhari’s fight against corruption should not be personalised, I believe it should be institutionalised otherwise once the president finishes his tenure corruption will resurface. For now, there is nothing institutional about it, it is personal and unless we do that we are wasting our time”
“The process should be reformed, empowered, funded and let the president step back and close his eyes to make anti-graft agencies fight corruption headlong. If they are not doing that the president can now call them to know what is wrong, that is the way to go about it”
“With such step the institution will be on auto-pilot and the country will be better for it. Nobody likes corruption, it is bigger than everyone of us, bigger than the CCT, EFCC, ICPC therefore the president cannot fight it alone”.
On values and culture of the legal profession which has been observed being eroded, he stated that if urgent steps are not taking to salvage the profession it could spell doom for it.
The Speaker who also lamented the rate of corruption in the judiciary blamed lawyers for acting as “middlemen” between their clients and the judges.
Ahmad maintained, “There is no doubt there is decline in legal profession. It is a noble profession as we used to know it but we have seen the values and culture being eroded.
“So, we need to go back to the foundation, fortify the rules and enforce the rules. That we have so many lawyers now is not the reason but we have to implement the rules. Legal profession has its Disciplinary Committee but we have to enforce the rules so that everybody will sit back”.
