Hammed Shittu in Ilorin
The Executive Director, Wadata Media and Advocacy Centre (WAMAC), Zubair Abdurra’uf Idris, at the weekend condemned the continued display of flamboyant lifestyles and wealth among political office holders and government officials despite several protests across the country as a result of the present economic hardship.
Idris stated this in Ilọrin, the Kwara State capital, during a town hall meeting to strengthen investigative data driven journalism in the fight against corruption in local languages in Nigeria.
The programme with theme: ‘Empowering citizens to own the fight against corruption in Kwara State: A bottom-up approach’, was held in partnership with Albarka FM with the support of MacArthur Foundation.
According to him, “Lack of accountability, misconception and mistrust among citizens and their leaders have generated a lot of hardship, hunger, diseases and insecurity in the country.
“A few days ago, many people thronged to the streets to protest lack of basic necessities and hunger.
“Despite all these protests, only few governments rolled out palliative measures to ameliorate the suffering of the masses.
“Yet our honourable and distinguished members of the legislative arm of government, both at the state and national level, despite the economic meltdown, are still conducting themselves in a flamboyant life that outstrips their earnings.
“These behaviours in the midst of economic reality have no doubt stimulate anger and disobedience by the larger society.”
He, therefore, called on communities to own the fight against corruption and make the government and leaders accountable.
Idris said WAMAC and Albarka and its other 11 partner radio stations across the country have unraveled many corruption cases allegedly perpetrated by those in office and workplaces in the last five years to promote accountability and good governance.
The task of fighting corruption, he noted, is not limited to anti-corruption bodies alone, but “civil societies as well as community organisations and individuals have a greater role to play to minimise the cankerworm of corruption, either we do it or we perish.
“We, therefore, urged community leaders and non-governmental organisation’s (NGOs) to cooperate with these journalists in the production of investigative reports on the fight against corruption.”
