A former British Foreign Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, on Wednesday said the war against corruption in Nigeria would be won when stiffer punishments were meted out to corrupt public officers.
Straw, accompanied by the British High Commissioner in Nigeria, Mr Andrew Pocock, made the disclosure when APC senators hosted him in Abuja.
He advised that transparency should be entrenched at all levels of government and greater independence granted to the judiciary.
“There is need to raise the penalty for corruption in Nigeria. You have anti-corruption laws, when you jail people on corruption, you ensure proper transparency.
“Then it is safe to say that people will stop being corrupt.
“One of the encouraging signs about Nigeria is the fact that you have effective and viable opposition because democracy requires that there are alternatives,’’ he said.
He urged the opposition lawmakers to get quality manifestos capable of bringing visible and practical changes to the lives of the citizens.
Earlier, senators of the All Progressives Congress (APC) expressed concern over the security situation in the country.
The Senate Minority Leader, Sen. George Akume, said that the persistent insurgency in the North-East “portends dangerous situation for the entire nation. .
“It has been very rough for us in this country. We in the opposition are very worried and something must be done to support this country.
“We are facing serious security challenges. Very large segment of the North-East is under siege. We are making progress but it is too slow.’’
He called on the Federal Government to put in place all necessary strategies to guarantee free, fair and credible elections in 2015.
“We are preparing for general elections; it is good for us to do what is right. As we move toward 2015, we should prepare for free and fair election,’’ he said.
Senators Bukola Saraki, Danjuma Goje, Ali Ndume, Abdullahi Adamu and Umaru Dahiru, part of the 11 PDP Senators seeking defection to the APC, were among the senators that attended the meeting.
