The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Tajudeen Abbas, has stated that Nigeria will not progress unless the rule of law and the fight against corruption are strengthened.
He stated that the law must be applied in such a way that both the “big and the small” are treated equally in order to provide everyone with a sense of justice and fairness.
Over the weekend, Speaker Abbas spoke at a reception hosted by the Nigerian High Commission in London.
“In Nigeria, some people do whatever they like. You can commit any crime and go scot-free depending on the size of your pocket or the people you know. That has to go.
“Unless we are able to strengthen our rule of law to make it in such a way that it affects both the big and the small, and it doesn’t look at the face of whoever is committing an offence, we will never go anywhere,” he said.
While speaking on the war on corruption, Abbas stated that the country’s anti-corruption drive must be strengthened in order to make meaningful progress.
He claimed that one of these methods would be to examine workers’ living wages in order to raise them in order for them to be “honest and transparent” in their dealings.
Abbas said: “We need to also intensify the war against corruption. No society in this world can ever thrive and be what it wants to be if corruption is the order of the day. But I agree that for you to fight corruption, there are some things you need to do.
“Let’s take the example of the UK experiment or the Western world. Fundamentally, what they did was to sit down and say let’s look at what an average worker would need to be paid as salary. Come up with a living wage that will take care of the basics of a person such that he won’t be looking outside his lawful income.
“Today, if you’re a labourer in London, you will be paid enough for you to go and pay your rent, take care of your basics and still be able to have a fairly good living. With that kind of incentive, you don’t need to go and borrow, you don’t need to go and beg, you don’t need to go and steal.”
He stated that the current Nigerian condition is such that “an average worker earns less than what somebody can use to buy fuel to fill his car tank, do you still want that man to be honest and transparent?
“For us to wage a war on corruption, we need to create an enabling environment where each and every one of us will be able to operate transparently without having to steal, without having to intimidate, without having to go and beg or to borrow. That is the beginning of the reform.
“If we can get the rule of law working, we will be able to work on the reforms necessary for fighting corruption. In fighting corruption, we also need to create an enabling environment where an average worker should be able to earn enough to live with his family.”
