By Chukwumah Umeorah
National and states lawmakers have been admonished to find a better way to address the issues of corruption, inefficiencies and wastage in government businesses.
Jim Obazee, former executive secretary of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) and special investigator appointed by President Bola Tinubu spoke at the charge at the award ceremony of ThisNigeria where he and four other eminent Nigerians were awarded, stating that lawmakers are expected to lead in ensuring that government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) deliver on their mandates by freeing monies locked up by corruption, inefficiencies and waste in government business in order to better the lots of the citizens.
Responding to a question on the poor handling of the distribution of palliatives by government recently, Obazee said: “We have state Assemblies just as we have the National Assembly; the lawmakers therein are to track down corruption, inefficiencies and wastes in government business. That should be the role of the federal and state assemblies. They should be able to design a better way to ensure the government delivers on campaign promises and physical distributions”
He highlighted the enormous power wielded by the lawmakers including oversight functions and powers to open the books of any government institution to ensure they operate under the dictates of their enabling Acts with accountability.
Obazee, in his preliminary report that was submitted to President Tinubu in December 2023 flawed the approval of the securitisation of the N22.7 trillion Ways and Means by the ninth National Assembly, stating that the action of the federal lawmakers contravened section 38 of the CBN Act 2007. The report also noted that the advances to the government violate section 80 (2) of the Nigerian constitution as it means spending public funds without appropriation by the National Assembly, which the report also criminalises under the Corrupt Practices and Other Offences Act and is seen as stealing under the penal code applicable in the FCT.
The report consequently recommended that the Federal Government should approach the Supreme Court to nullify the approval of the securitisation of the Ways and Means by the Ninth National Assembly as it contravenes section 38 of the CBN Act, 2007. Surprisingly, instead of heeding the call, the National Assembly went to approve the securitisation of another N7.3 trillion by the end of December 2023 and thereafter turned around to start probing the entire amount, which now stood at N30 trillion, as if they are now heeding Obazee’s call over the securitisation error.
The former boss of FRC, premier regulator in Nigeria, got the Gold Prize in Public Service from ThisNigeria Newspaper for unearthing and cleansing the Augean stable of malfeasance in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) under the immediate past governor of the bank, Godwin Emefiele.
Obazee was appointed the Special Investigator on July 28, 2023 by President Tinubu to probe the CBN, related entities and other key Government Business Entities (GBE) in the country. The appointment is rooted in section 15(5) of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended, which places responsibility on him and his team to investigate and block the leakages in CBN and others and also provide a comprehensive report on public wealth currently in the hands of corrupt individuals and establishments (whether private or public) to the President.
Other awardees by ThisNigeria are the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Nyesom Wike who got a Gold Prize for Infrastructure Revolution and Exceptional Leadership in the FCT, Governor Kabir Abba Yusuf of Kano state who was awarded a Gold Prize for Courage in Leadership, Governor Umo Bassey Eno of Akwa Ibom was awarded Gold Prize for Peace Building and Innovative Leadership while Issa Aremu also got Gold Prize in Public Service for effective government-workforce engagement.
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