The Chairman, Senate Committee on Special Duties, Yusuf Yusuf, has advocated the prosecution of the immediate family members of any corrupt Nigerian, instead of making the perpetrators to suffer the punishment alone.
Senator Yusuf, who is currently sponsoring a bill seeking the creation of an agency that would be managing assets established to be proceeds of corruption, stated this in an interview with journalists in Abuja yesterday.
He said many Nigerians were still engaging in corrupt practices because only the perpetrators were being made to face prosecution.
The senator maintained that corrupt Nigerians would reduce drastically if beneficiaries of their ill-gotten wealth also face prosecution.
According to him, “Every corrupt person, his spouse, children, siblings and parents are all beneficiaries of corruption.
“So, while the law is criminalising an individual for corruption, and he is in jail for 10 years or more, his wife, children, siblings and parents would all be enjoying the proceeds of his or her corruption.
“It is possible for someone to be corrupt and others may not know, but by and large, every corruption has its own beneficiaries.
“The law should also be extended to all the beneficiaries of corruption, especially the criminal aspect.
“There are countries where corrupt persons are jailed for as much as 100 years. There are also nations which have death penalty as punishment for corrupt people.
“It is very disturbing when you consider how far corruption had destroyed the country in all aspects, including the National Assembly, civil service, security agencies, and even in the academia.
“I believe that creating an agency that would be saddled with the responsibilities of managing the confiscated proceeds of corruption is better than making it the duty of the anti-graft agencies.”
Yusuf expressed serious concern about the high level of corruption in the country, and noted that the menace, if not immediately curbed, could destroy Nigeria.
He said: “I am really very concerned about the future of the country in the sense that many of us are joking and playing with the extent to which corruption has eaten deeply into the fabrics of our polity.
“President Muhammadu Buhari has warned us that if we do not fight corruption, corruption would definitely not only fight us, but kill us a nation.
“Corruption, unfortunately, is in every sector of the economy. Some people say drug peddling is not corruption, but it is actually.
“There is an allegation that one of our topmost police officers in the country, DSP Abba Kyari, who had been arrested, was conniving with drug peddlers.
“Although it is still an allegation, it would be very unfortunate if found to be true at the end of the current investigation.”
