Arewa urges Buhari to probe corrupt serving public officers
THE northern socio-cultural group, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), has urged the Federal Government to turn its searchlight on serving members of the government who are neck-deep in corruption and prosecute them.
According to it, that is the only way the present administration can assure the nation that the government is sincere in weeding the country of corruption and remained focus in improving the state of the economy.
A statement issued by the National Publicity Secretary of the Forum, Alhaji Muhammad Ibrahim Biu, said: “The three years of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration in the opinion of Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) have experienced both challenges and successes that are natural process of nation-building in the areas of security, economy and fight against corruption.
“On the anti-corruption fight, the agencies responsible have lived up to their responsibilities with the arrest and prosecution of suspected public treasury looters. The discoveries of stolen public funds hidden in banks and obscure places both in Nigeria and abroad and the forfeiture of such monies to the Federal Government are laudable efforts.
“There is need to do more by strengthening the anticorruption agencies through legislation to ensure quick dispensation of justice by the courts. Furthermore, government should try and employ the political will to make public officials, however highlyplaced, to account for their malfeasance while in office. “This will not only serve as a deterrent but also restore confidence in governance and in the democracy. The economy cannot flourish amid insecurity and corruption, hence the need to tame them.”
Besides, the ACF, which commended Nigerians for a successful navigation in the nation’s economy and polity despite the challenges and government’s ability to confront the situation with unity of purpose, said: “The continued degradation of the Boko Haram insurgency across the North and localisation of their activities to the fringes of the NorthEast, the rescue of over 100 Chibok girls and the 104 Dapchi girls that were kidnapped and held in captivity by the Boko Haram terrorists, and the re-habilitation of Internally-displaced Persons (IDPS) have been reassuring measures to restore normalcy and hope in the lives of the people and confidence in the government.
“The various military and other security operations in tackling insecurity nationwide, particularly the farmers/herders clashes and bandits’ attacks in the states of Benue, Nasarawa, Adamawa, Zamfara, Kaduna, Plateau, Taraba and others are practical demonstration by the government of its resolve to overcome the menace.