Obazee advises lawmakers to address corruption, waste in govt businesses

Jim Obazee, the Special Investigator appointed by President Bola Tinubu has urged federal lawmakers to find a better way to address the corruption, inefficiencies and waste in government businesses.

Obazee, who spoke at the award ceremony of ThisNigeria where he and four other eminent Nigerians were awarded, stated that lawmakers are expected to lead in ensuring that government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) deliver on their mandates by freeing monies locked up by corruption, inefficiencies and waste in government business to better the lots of the citizens.

When asked about the poor handling of the distribution of palliatives by the government recently, Obazee said, “We have State Assemblies just as we have the National Assembly, the lawmakers therein are to track down corruption, inefficiencies and wastes in government business. That should be the role of the federal and state assemblies. They should be able to design a better way to ensure government delivers on campaign promises and physical distributions.”

He highlighted the enormous power wielded by the lawmakers including oversight functions, and powers to open the books of any government institution to ensure they operate under the dictates of their enabling Acts with accountability.

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The former Executive Secretary of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) – the premier regulator in Nigeria, got the Gold Prize in Public Service from ThisNigeria Newspaper for unearthing and cleansing the Augean stable of malfeasance in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) under the immediate past governor of the bank, Godwin Emefiele.

Other awardees are the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Nyesom Wike, who got a Gold Prize for Infrastructure Revolution and Exceptional Leadership in the FCT; Governor Kabir Abba Yusuf of Kano State who was awarded a Gold Prize for Courage in Leadership; Governor Umo Bassey Eno of Akwa Ibom was awarded Gold Prize for Peace Building and Innovative Leadership.