Ezenwa Nwagwu, co-convener, Say NO Campaign has urged moral institutions; traditional and religious leaders to utilize their positions and play key roles in combating corruption in the country.
Nwagwu made the call during a town hall meeting on Strengthening The Moral Institutions In Building a Corrupt Free Society which held in Lagos.
Nwagwu charged the leaders to take necessary actions of holding government accountable within their communities and also ensure that abandoned projects are implemented for the benefit of the community at large.
According to Nwagwu, corruption is more envisaged on the citizens than government officials hence “we want to borrow muscles to move the pin a little, working together will move the nation forward, everything must be tailored towards improving lives.
“We believe that if traditional and religious leaders take the step to curb corruption in their respective constituencies, Nigeria would be a better place.”
He gave hints on how participants could engage local government leaders constructively and achieve impacts.
Rev. Israel Oyetunji, Cairman, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Ikeja while speaking on “Building a Morally Conscious Society to Resist Corruption – the Religious Perspective”, said religious leaders have a role of ensuring that political leaders and government officials do things rightly.
He further told religious leaders to be of good character; exhibit what they teach, be moral in speech and attitude.
State Director, National Orientation Agency (NOA); Waheed Ishola told religious leaders to preach more of salvation than prosperity which he described as a way to nip corruption in the bud.
He commended organizers of the program for the initiative, engaging traditional and religious leaders, which he said would achieve a lot of change.
Head of Public Relations Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ayo Oyewole affirmed that the anti graft agency is available to support the move against corruption, he also encourage religious leaders to join in whistle blowing campaign and collectively fight corruption.
He assured that anyone who provide any intelligent information would be adequately protected from any form of harm.
At the end of the town hall meeting, Religious leaders Anti-Corruption network was setup to spearhead activities in their societies.
Inaugurating the team, Nwagwu said technical capacities and training will be provided to the leaders in different communities. He added that “We’re not giving them financial resources because we want them to be incrementally charge for public good and not self-enrichment by solving issues in their communities. We’ve successful do this in FCT, Akwa-ibom, and Enugu.”