Participants at a national conference on public policy on Wednesday in Owo, Ondo State, reviewed strategies so far employed by successive governments in Nigeria to fight corruption and submitted that none of them was capable of curbing the scourge.
They therefore suggested a radical approach that will sanction corrupt Nigerians who failed to invest their loot in the nation's economy but would rather choose to lodge them in foreign countries.
Some of the speakers included the Vice-Chancellor of Lead City University, Ibadan, Prof. Olufemi Onabajo; a traditional ruler, who is also the Dean, Social and Management Sciences, Bowen University, Iwo, Prof. Akinola Owosekun; and Dr. Jideofor Adibe from Nasarawa State University.
They spoke on the theme, 'Nigeria's socio-economic and political dilemmas: The challenges and the way out', at the maiden edition of the Achievers National Conference on Public Policy, organised by the Achievers University, Owo.
The Pro-Chancellor, Achievers University, Dr. Bode Ayorinde, and the Vice-Chancellor of the institution, Prof. Adebayo Odebiyi, insisted that corruption had been institutionalised in the country.
They also noted that those saddled with the responsibilities of tackling the menace were products of a corrupt system and were using the anti graft agencies as weapons to harass their perceived political enemies.
Ayorinde specifically called for the establishment of an agency that would encourage the investment of stolen money in the economy of Nigeria so as to address the problem of youth unemployment.
He said, "There is no way that a political appointee or elected officer at all tiers and levels of government will not be corrupt in this country because they are overseeing corrupt institutions, which are more powerful than them."
The Punch