News

Okonjo-Iweala reveals what Nigeria needs to overcome corruption

Published

7 years ago

April 28, 2018

Former Minister of Finance and Co-ordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has advised the Nigerian Government on how to go about the ongoing fight against corruption.Okonjo-Iweala gave the advice in Washington DC, US, at a signing event for the launch of her book ‘Fighting Corruption is Dangerous: The Story Behind the Headlines’, held at The Politics and Prose.

The former Minister said with strong, independent and well-resourced judiciary, the country will be on its way to winning the fight against corruption.

She said, “We really need a strong judiciary, there is absolutely no doubt about it. With strong, independent, and well-resourced judiciary we are on our way.

“We have some independent institutions to safeguard the judiciary, but is it strong enough? The answer I’m sure the members of the judiciary themselves will tell you is ‘no’. So, that is one of the tasks that we have.

“And, like you said, there is some urgency in building institutions in our country if we are to successfully fight corruption.

“We need a whole new set of actions working together but, above all, we need people who are willing. If everybody runs away and stay in their nice, safe corner, what happens?

“That is what the people who are corrupt want you to do by the way. They want you to stay away, they want you to resign, they want you to run off and leave them to their devices, and that was what led to all the attacks.

“They believe that if they attack, intimidate, ruin the reputation, the person will run away. Every single day when we were in government we woke up to drama.”