The United States, yesterday, dismissed Nigeria’s war against
corruption alleging “massive widespread and pervasive corruption
affected all levels of government and the security forces”.
In its 2011 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, which was
submitted to Congress by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, it
said the law provides criminal penalties for official corruption;
however, the government did not implement the law effectively, and
officials frequently engaged in corrupt practices with impunity.
According to the report: “Public officials, including the president,
vice president, governors, deputy
governors, cabinet ministers, and
legislators (at both federal and state levels), must comply with
financial disclosure laws, including the requirement to declare their
assets before assuming and after leaving office. Violators risked
prosecution, but cases rarely came to conclusion.
“There was a widespread perception that judges were easily bribed and
that litigants could not rely on the courts to render impartial
judgments. Citizens encountered long delays and alleged requests from
judicial officials for bribes to expedite cases or obtain favourable
rulings.
“Police corruption remained rampant, particularly at highway
checkpoints. Police routinely stopped drivers who did not commit traffic
infractions, refusing to allow them to continue until they paid bribes.
The Office of the Inspector General of Police attempted to strengthen
the Police Monitoring Unit, which was charged with visiting police
stations to search officers for signs of accepting bribes; however, the
unit remained ineffective and made no arrests by year’s end. Citizens
could report incidents of police corruption to the NHRC; however, the
NHRC did not act on such complaints during the year, and no other
mechanism existed to investigate security force abuse.
In August 2010 HRW released Everyone’s in on the Game, a report on
corruption and human rights abuses by the police. HRW compiled
information from 145 interviews and documented pervasive police
extortion with impunity committed by police officers throughout the
country. Police demanded bribes, threatened arrest and physical harm,
and enforced a system of “returns” in which officers must pay up the
chain of command a share of the money they extorted from the public.
This system undermined the rule of law and created a large disincentive
for superior officers to hold their subordinates accountable for
extortion and other abuses.
“Civil society groups introduced a number of cases at the national
and state level to test the FOIA during the year. For example, in
September the SERAP brought a case against the Oyo State government
after being denied access to information on state funding for primary
education. The case continued at year’s end.
-Vaguard
Before nko...?
ReplyDeleteFG Goodluck jonathan and Reuben Abati are busy gallivanting the world deceiving themselves that Nigeria is the best country in the world. Absolute Nonsense!
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