Nigeria Content Online

The federal
government will introduce a fresh approach to tackle corruption which
remains a source of insecurity to the nation, Nuhu Ribadu, former
chairman of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission, said yesterday
in Ilishan Ijebu, Ogun State.

Mr. Ribadu, who was
attending his first public appearance after returning from an 18-month
exile last Thursday, made this call during the 8th Convocation Ceremony
of Babcock University in Ogun state where he was conferred with an
honorary Doctor of Laws degree.

“There is merit in
the argument that new times call for new strategies and that a
sustainable anti-corruption programme in Nigeria must wear a new look,”
he said. “In the reality of our nation today, an anti-corruption
programme must get an elevation to be located at the very core of
national security imperative.”

Mr. Ribadu said all
the resources deployed at building a virile nation will come to nought
if “we do not put all our development efforts in the context of a new
economic management model that correctly annotates corruption as most
crippling factor in our development effort.”

Recounting his
experience during the 18 months he was in exile, Mr. Ribadu said it
provided him an opportunity to reflect on what he had done in the five
year he was a member of the country’s economic management team.

“Such modest
anti-corruption efforts as we saw in the very recent past produced
result, created fundamental change and offer hope of national
restoration,” he said.

Mr. Ribadu also
said despite the “pains and discomfort” which his exile engendered, he
draws solace in the fact that his four years of anti-corruption
campaign has been validated. “If we had the opportunity to do it again
today, it might be worth repeating,” he said.

Educational values

Mr. Ribadu also
highlighted the core values of the university, which is to build people
for leadership, transform lives and impact society for positive change.

According to him,
these core values are imperative and “we must continue to seek to
transform our country towards a just, fair, equitable, peaceful and
truly free society.”

He also advocated
that the country must move from the present practice where more than
N1.1 trillion was spent on education in the last five years, with
little result, to the practice where education is brought to the
“doorsteps of citizens” just like India and china have done. As a
gesture of honour, Mr. Ribadu was also called upon to conduct the
foundation stone laying ceremony of the Pastor Laz Otti Memorial
Virtual Library at the institution.

The former anti-corruption czar expressed his gratitude to the school management for deeming him fit of such honour.

“You can truly
understand how humbled and appreciative my family and I are by the kind
invitation to join the ranks of the honoured,” he said.

Mr. Ribadu was on
May 25, restored as a retired Assistant Inspector General (AIG) by the
Police Service Commission after he was stripped of his promotion from
an Assistant Commissioner of Police to AIG and subsequently sacked from
the Nigerian Police Force for alleged indiscipline, insubordination and
absence from duty in December 2008.

He later went into exile after several attempts on his live. He has
been a visiting fellow at the Center for Global Development, Washington
DC