PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari will tomorrow, Tuesday, declare open a two day anti-corruption seminar in Abuja.
A statement by the Special Assistant to Senate President Bukola Saraki on Print Media, Chuks Okocha, confirmed that the seminar was aimed at formulating a legislative framework for the anti-corruption fight in the country.
According to the statement, the seminar, being jointly organised by the Senate and House of Representatives committees on Anti Corruption, will feature as theme: “The role of the legislature in the fight against corruption in Nigeria.”
The statement said that the seminar is the first major event jointly organised by both chambers of the eighth National Assembly since its inauguration in June 2015.
The statement also indicated that Senate President, Bukola Saraki and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Honourable Yakubu Dogara, would co-host the anti corruption seminar.
It quoted the chairman, Senate Committee Chairman on Anti Corruption, Senator Chukwuma Utazi, as saying: “the Seminar is to give legal strength to the anti corruption fight of the present administration and to create legislative synergy for the anti corruption fight.
“The seminar is aimed at making good the promise of the National Assembly that we are on the same page with the President Buhari led administration and in line with the legislative agenda, that there is a synergy between the National Assembly and the Presidency in the fight against corruption. It is to reaffirm the point that you cannot clap with one hand. It is our way of saying that there must be a legislative strength to back the anti corruption stance of the present administration.”
According to the statement the keynote address of the seminar will be delivered by Prof. P. L. O. Lumumba, Director General of the Kenyan Law School who is also an international scholar on the issues of corruption.
It mentioned other topics slated for discussion at the seminar as including “the Legislature as Champion of Anti-Corruption Reforms Leveraging ? Constitutional Mandates;” “ Reform of the Anti Corruption Legal Framework /International Partnership Against Corruption; Nigeria’s Membership of FAFT in Focus;” and the “Appropriation Process and Limits of Legislative Powers” to be delibered by former Speaker of the House of Representtibed, Hon Anaekwe Agunwa.
