The Director of Lux Terra Leadership Foundation, Rev. Fr. George Ehusani, insists that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the ICPC, the CCT, NEITI, and other anti-graft agencies are incapable of tackling the menace of corrupt practices in the polity.

The cleric, who delivered a keynote address during the 23rd Center LSD / Conrad Adenauer Bi-Annual Leadership Lecture and Graduation Ceremony held at the weekend in Abuja, contended that there is no way the anti-graft agencies can thrive when those entrusted with the leadership of the country lack the willpower to tackle the menace.

He referred to the report released by Chatham House on August 28, 2025, to buttress the assertion that the aforementioned agencies are only scratching the surface of the rot in the country.

The report indicates that in spite of the hue and cry against corruption in the public space over the last two decades to fight corruption in Nigeria, corruption is not only alive and well in Nigeria; it is actually thriving and flourishing.

He noted that the report took note of the ugly trend in spite of huge investment by local and international agencies targeted at changing social norms and behavior, and in spite of the setting up of multiple agencies like the CCB, CCT, ICPC, EFCC, BPP, NEITI, Public Complaints Commission, and the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation, all to fight the same scourge of corruption.

The cleric, in a lecture titled “Leadership Debauchery and the Failure of Anti-Corruption Measures in Nigeria,” stated that the report declared that corruption remains deeply entrenched in Nigeria’s public and political life, crippling democracy, stifling economic growth, and eroding citizens’ trust in state institutions.

He said it’s unfortunate that Nigeria still ranks among the 40 most corrupt countries on Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index, and 35th from the bottom globally on the World Bank’s “Control of Corruption Index.”

He added that the Chatham House findings, which came out of their Social Norms and Accountable Governance project, show that corruption thrives at every layer of Nigeria’s public life, from politics to policing, and from procurement to the judiciary, draining billions of naira away from schools, hospitals, and infrastructure, fueling inequality, and reinforcing underdevelopment.

He pointed out that the report highlights the contradiction in many Nigerians who condemn corruption, yet pay bribes and cut corners out of necessity, describing such contradiction as “the price of getting things done in a dysfunctional system!”

According to him, the report concludes that only coordinated, credible efforts, led by trusted figures in government, civil society, and business, can dismantle Nigeria’s entrenched corruption networks and restore public confidence.

He recalled that it was on the same day that the Chatham House report on Nigeria was released (August 28, 2025), that the MacArthur Foundation brought him and others of like mind together to reflect on the draft report of EnCompass LLC, their international Evaluation and Learning Partner, which was charged with the task of evaluating the overall gains of their 2020–2024 “On Nigeria 2” project, aimed at mainstreaming the campaign against corruption across several sectors of the Nigerian economy.

Referring to the sobering conclusions from the diligent assessment and evaluation work that was carried out, he noted: “They observe that whereas many more Nigerians now condemn acts of corruption, and many more Nigerian individuals and groups are now participating in the campaign against corruption, whereas there is greater diversity in the individuals and agencies involved in the anti-corruption campaign, and whereas there is appreciable improvement in institutional framework, as well as collaboration among the public and private agencies involved in the fight against corruption, etc.

“Nevertheless, the level of accountability in the country remains where it was in the year 2020. In other words, between 2020 and 2025, Nigeria has recorded no improvement whatsoever in the overall accountability index.

“I sat through the meeting and kept wondering if the consultants were not being diplomatic in the framing of their report, or if they were not trying to appear nice to us, their Nigerian friends, as they presented the rather woeful and damning report card. But do we really need any foreign consultants to tell us that Nigeria stinks with corruption today more than at any other time in our national history?

“Do we really need the likes of Chatham House and EnCompass LLC to educate us on the reality that we see, smell, and feel every day? The APC Government of the late Muhammadu Buhari came into power in 2015 with anti-corruption slogans such as, ‘If we do not kill corruption, corruption will kill us all.’

“Many Nigerians voted for that government because they genuinely believed that Buhari was capable of doing again some of what he did as military head of state between 1984 and 1985. But their hopes were soon dashed, and their dreams were shattered.

“The late President succeeded in doing next to nothing about the elephant in the room. Corruption thrived and flourished right under his nose in the presidency.

“Those who took over power from the late Buhari in 2023, however, did not promise Nigerians that they would fight corruption, and they are not pretending to be fighting corruption, because they can’t.”

Ehusani insists that the personal integrity, or otherwise, of those in leadership positions determines the success or failure of anti-corruption measures in society, adding that no matter how perfect the political, structural, and governance blueprint they adopt, it has been well established that the collapse of powerful civilizations is hardly ever precipitated by external attack, but instead by internal decay.

He added: “Where there is moral integrity among the ruling class, the people make economic progress and experience stability and peace. But where the leaders are illegitimate, corrupt, unjust, immoral, and lacking in credibility, the people suffer economic stagnation, social discord, and eventual collapse.

“Many will agree with me that the Nigerian nation is sadly comatose and on the verge of disintegration today, largely on account of successive generations of thoughtlessly corrupt, senselessly nepotistic, recklessly lawless, and astonishingly incompetent elite class that we have been plagued with since independence, and particularly since the first coup of 1966.

“See where we have put ourselves today: While the rest of the world is competing in digital technology, flying high in business and economics, and exploring outer space, the citizens of our country are standing still, weighed down by the vestiges of a profligate past and a confused or clueless present, superintended at various levels in large measure by persons who, under normal circumstances, should not be seen anywhere near the corridors of power.” (The Guardian)

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