Removing immunity for corrupt political office holders

If there is one statement the immediate past President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, made during his first inauguration in 2015, that seems like a prophesy is that if Nigeria does not kill corruption, corruption will murder Nigeria. Indeed, it is estimated that corruption has cost the Nigerian economy an estimated $550bn in the last 60 years. These acts of pervasive corruption have hindered development in the country.

The government has established two agencies to combat corruption (ICPC and EFCC), and over the years they have recorded some successes.

However, there are certain categories of political office holders that the Nigerian constitution has conferred immunity on from civil or criminal proceedings while in office (president and his vice, and governors and their deputies). This immunity has led to some governors recklessly misappropriating state funds knowing that they are immune from prosecution while in office.

While immunity granted to these categories of public office holders is necessary to protect them from frivolous lawsuits, the rate at which pilfering of state resources is increasing by the day calls for reforms.

Consequently, there is the need to water down the immunity clause in the Nigerian constitution and allow public officials that are cloaked with immunity to be investigated and prosecuted if there is evidence of corrupt practices against them while still in office. This will discourage some of the officials from engaging in the acts.

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The survival of Nigeria as a country depends on its ability to tackle corruption. For that to be possible, there is the need for the immunity clause to be reviewed; perhaps it will reduce the level of misappropriation of public funds by those protected by the cloak of immunity, which will enhance service delivery to Nigerians as a whole.

Aliyu Ibrahim PhD wrote via [email protected]