Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN has expressed satisfaction that Nigerians are optimistic in their confidence in the Federal Government’s fight against corruption.
This is contained in a statement signed by Dr. Umar Jibrilu Gwandu, Special Assistant on Media and Public Relations Office of the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice and made available to newsmen in Abuja on Thursday 30th of January 2020.
Malami’s remark came as a response to the recently released report of a survey conducted by the Socio-Economic Right and Accountability Project (SERAP) tagged “Nigeria: Anti-Corruption Social Norms Report 2019”.
According to the survey, more than half of Nigerians (56.5% of people surveyed) believed that corruption can be successfully fought in the country.
Breaking-down the statistic, the report shows that 56.7% of Nigerians surveyed responded positively that they are optimistic the Federal Government of Nigeria is capable of reducing or ending corruption in the country which is a clear indicator of the confidence Nigerians have in the Federal Government’s anti-corruption fight.
SERAP survey was conducted using face to face interview and using semi-structured questionnaires to 2,549 respondents across all the six geo-political zones of Nigeria covering eight states of Ondo, Enugu, Rivers, Lagos, Adamawa, Kano, Kaduna and Kwara where Abuja was added due to its status as the Federal Capital of Nigeria.
In what can be seen as a remarkable success of the “Change- Begins-With-Me Campaign”, more Nigerians believed that they have roles to play in curbing the menace of corruption including speaking against corruption, choosing be corrupt-free, supporting government efforts against corruption and reporting cases of corruption to authorities among others.
“This observation, however, needs to be read by an appreciation that even taking personal responsibility through speaking against corruption or being non-corrupt is also a great indication of progress by the government led anti-corruption bodies,” the report has added.
The report indicated that “almost 54% of the respondents reported actually having taken a step against corruption last 12 months preceding to the survey” as 78% of the Nigerians view that wealth made from corruption is a stolen wealth that ought to be recovered or taken
away while 82% of Nigerians believed that Nigerian society reward clean or non-corrupt leaders.
According to the survey, Nigerians took bold actions to fight corruption including self-education on corruption, refusing to participate in corrupt activities, reporting corruption and voting for
persons who are against corruption in the country.
