SERAP’s Report Shows Nigerians Back FG’s Anti-corruption War, Says Malami

Alex Enumah

The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice (AGF), Mr. Abubakar

Malami (SAN), yesterday expressed satisfaction that Nigerians have taken interest and are actually in support of the federal government’s fight against corruption in the country.

Malami’s position was contained in a statement signed by the Special Assistant on Media and Public Relations Office of the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Dr Umar Gwandu.

According to the media aide, the AGF’s remark came as a response to the recently released report of a survey conducted by the Socio-Economic Right and Accountability Project (SERAP) tagged “Nigeria: Anti-Corruption Social Norms Report 2019”.

“In what can be seen as a remarkable success of the “Change- Begins-With-Me Campaign”, more Nigerians believed that they have roles to play in curbing the menace of corruption, including speaking against corruption, choosing to be corrupt-free, supporting government’s efforts against corruption and reporting cases of corruption to authorities among others,” the statement quoted the report as saying.

Gwandu added that the report noted that the observation, however, needs to be read by an appreciation that even taking personal responsibility through speaking against corruption or being non-corrupt is also a great indication of progress by the government-led anticorruption bodies.

“According to the survey, more than half of Nigerians (56.5 per cent of people surveyed) believed that corruption can be successfully fought in the country.

“Breaking-down the statistic, the report shows that 56.7 per cent of Nigerians surveyed responded positively that they are optimistic the Federal Government of Nigeria is capable of reducing or ending corruption in the country which is a clear indicator of the confidence Nigerians have in the Federal Government’s anti-corruption fight.

“SERAP survey was conducted using face to face interview and using semistructured questionnaires to 2,549 respondents across all the six geo-political zones of

Nigeria covering eight states of Ondo, Enugu, Rivers, Lagos, Adamawa, Kano, Kaduna and Kwara where Abuja was added due to its status as the Federal Capital of Nigeria”, the statement read in part.

According to the report, almost 54 per cent of the respondents reported actually have taken a step against corruption in the last 12 months preceding to the survey.