C Anguslaz Anokwute

War Against Corruption C Anguslaz Anokwute

According to the Encarta Thesaurus, corruption means dishonesty, exploitation, sleaze, bribery, fraud, venality. It equally means depravity, perversion, immorality, harm, debasement, degeneracy, vice. In the same vein, the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English sees corruption as the act of making morally bad- causing to change from good to bad. Corruption is dishonesty, immoral behaviour. It, again, means a movement away from pure original form. But to the average Nigerian, corruption is all about stealing money. However, as we saw from the dictionary definitions, corruption goes beyond "financial crimes." To me, anything that deviates from acceptable practice or standard, especially in the conduct of government business, amounts to corruption. So, embezzlement of public funds is one. Also giving or receiving money illegally is a corrupt practice. Again, I see tribalism, favouritism or nepotism as corruption. Really, the aspect of corruption Nigeria is so much interested in, at least for now, is "looting of commonwealth" or self-enrichment via public funds- and it is this evil practice that led to the establishment of Economic & Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices & Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Code Of Conduct Bureau (CCB) and Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT). A look at the various acts establishing the corruption-fighting institutions reveal the appropriate punishments due to offenders, as should.