SERAP, Others Support Life Imprisonment For Corrupt Public Officers

Some lawyers in Lagos on Friday hailed the recommendation by the National Conference delegates in Abuja to punish corrupt public officers with life imprisonment.
The lawyers told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that such a punishment would reduce corruption in the country.
Mr Adetokunbo Mumuni, Executive Director, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), a rights advocacy group, blamed corruption for the insecurity and poverty being faced by Nigerians.
“SERAP is in total support of any law that will help to reduce corruption, but it must be properly enforced.
“The problem of Nigeria is not lack of laws but lack of the political will to enforce such laws,” Mumuni said.
A human rights lawyer, Mr Fred Agbaje, noted that corruption was punishable with death in some advanced countries.
Agbaje said:”Being that the death penalty is going out of practice, the recommendation for life imprisonment of corrupt officers is acceptable.’’
He added that people convicted of corruption should also forfeit their assets to the government.
“In other words, once you are convicted of corruption or other corruption related offences, apart from life imprisonment, you should be made to forfeit all your assets to the government,” he said.
In his reaction, Mr Adebamigbe Omole, a former Chairman of the Ikeja Branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), told NAN that the recommendation was a welcome development.
Omole said: “Except we begin to do things like this, corruption will continue to be an endemic thing in this country.
“In fact, I would have recommended death penalty because, even those sentenced to life imprisonment, can be pardoned in future.
“They will be free to enjoy their ill-gotten wealth to the detriment of the nation.”