The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) Rivers State has called on General Buhari to be dogged in his fight against corruption. Aside reiterating congress’ congratulations to the General, a statement by Comrade Hyginus Chika Onuegbu ,State Chairman of TUC said “We urge him. to be dogged in the fight against corruption and the elimination of waste in governance through strengthening the institutions that fight corruption, adopting a truly zero tolerance approach to corruption and waste of public funds and more importantly, pass into law the offence of unexplained wealth in Nigeria and ensure that offenders are properly dealt with.
“The offence of unexplained wealth (also called possession of unexplained wealth) will penalize people for possessing wealth disproportionate to their known lawful sources of income if they cannot provide a satisfactory explanation for this. This has been recognized by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe as one of the best practices for combating corruption .Also in Hong Kong, where the offence has existed for nearly 40 years, the Court of Appeal in Attorney General v. Hui Kin-hong, 1995 found that it has “proved its effectiveness in the fight against corruption”. Moreover, the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) also encourages the establishment of such an offence.
Rivers TUC said “The truth is that corruption is the greatest problem of the Nigerian nation and those who perpetuate it must be treated as enemies of the state and they do not deserve any mercy whatsoever. We therefore recommend that the offence of unexplained wealth in Nigeria should be punished with imprisonment of at least 20years plus forfeiture of the unexplained wealth to serve as an effective deterrent.
“We want to assure the president -elect that our congress and indeed the good people of Rivers state and Nigeria will stand by him in this divine fight against corruption in Nigeria.
