Oluyinka Akintunde, Abuja

He said political parties should not field them in the next poll.

Anyaoku, at the public presentation of a book, economic and Financial Crimes in Nigeria: Policy Issues and Options,・in Abuja, said that only persons with impeccable character should be entrusted with the governance of the country.

He said, in this season where our national attention is largely preoccupied with the 2007 elections, I hope that in selecting the candidates for our next set of leaders, our political parties and all concerned will focus, in addition to other considerations, on the personal qualities, including their established track record and capacity to fight corruption, of those to be entrusted with leading our country's future effort to consolidate its development and democratic governance.

I totally agree with the interview of the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, on persons that should govern this country. Everything should be done to prevent those without impeccable characters and features to lead us in this country.・

He identified corruption as well as economic and financial crimes, as the major causes of the nation's underdevelopment and relative political instability.

Anyaoku said, in its most obvious form, material corruption has meant the diversion of resources which could have been used for improving the quality of life of our people to private pockets and private bank accounts overseas.

Our roads, our schools, colleges and universities, our power supply, our hospitals and all our other public amenities have been in their poor state not because the country has lacked the resources to make them better but mainly because most of the available resources have been both mismanaged and embezzled.・

He also said that corrupt practices by public officers were responsible for the perversion and the inefficiency of the institutions they represent.

The former Commonwealth scribe, however, commended the Federal Government for putting in place anti-corruption agencies such as the EFCC, the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission, the Budget Monitoring and Price Intelligence Unit and the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.

He said, opinions may differ on how successful these mechanisms have been in sustaining their individual credibility as fully impartial selectors of the targets of their operation.

釘ut there can be no doubt that their existence and operations, especially of the EFCC under the courageous leadership of Ribadu, has succeeded in arresting what was previously widely acknowledged as Nigeria's continuing descent into a cesspit of uncontrollable corruption.・

The Senate President, Chief Ken Nnamani, who also spoke at the event, said that the National Assembly was determined to amend the EFCC Act.

Nnamani said that contrary to the fears that the National Assembly intended to whittle down the powers of the anti-graft body, the purpose of the amendment was to strengthen the EFCC to conclusively win the war against corruption.・

He said, democracy cannot thrive where corruption is rampant. Corruption defeats democracy. Likewise, democracy and the rule of law are enemies of corruption.

的 have always urged that we prosecute the war against corruption with the strictest adherence to the rule of law because with the sunshine of the rule of law, criminal elements in a democracy will either learn virtue or be denied the power to hurt society.・

Ribadu said the book presented a simplified and concise analysis of economic and financial crimes.

He said, the book presentation is a realisation of one of the main objectives of the EFCC, that is, the provision of theoretical and practical literature in order to increase the awareness of the general public about the various dimensions, and impact of economic and financial crimes on the society.

This preventive approach to the fight against crimes is a key pillar in all international instruments and indeed our national framework.・

The PUNCH, Wednesday, May 31, 2006