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Yar'Adua fights immunity bill
25/01/2008 08:56 - (SA)
Lagos - President Umaru Yar'Adua, seeking to battle corruption, supports ending legal immunity for top Nigerian office holders, says his office.
In addition, Yar'Adua was asking parliamentarians to pass a bill criminalising breaches of due process in the awarding of government contracts.
The Constitution clause that granted top federal and state executives exemptions from criminal prosecution while in office was seen as a major impediment to ending corruption in Nigeria.
The country was routinely ranked among the world's most graft-ridden nations.
Yar'Adua, whose commitment to fighting corruption had been questioned recently, said he wanted a constitutional amendment to remove the immunity.
$400bn missing
He would also introduce legislation to outlaw the granting of contracts without following standard regulations, said his office.
"Leaders must shoulder the responsibility of ensuring that they have systems that do not encourage corrupt practices," his office quoted Yar'Adua as saying on Wednesday in Davos, Switzerland.
Nigeria's anti-graft investigators said $400bn in government funds had gone missing since the early 1970s. Government officials were often caught demanding bribes for services, doling out lucrative contracts for kickbacks, or stealing government money outright.
Yar'Adua was inaugurated on May 29 after winning elections that he acknowledged were deeply flawed. He won praise during his first months in office by following letter of the law in his work, unlike his predecessor, who often signed contracts outside the usual chain of approval.
Nigeria Africa's 'biggest oil producer'
But Yar'Adua's commitment to fighting corruption was questioned recently after the head of the anti-graft body was removed from office following the arrest of a top backer of Yar'Adua's presidential campaign.
Yar'Adua's support for an end to immunity for the president, vice-president, state governors and their deputies appeared aimed at assuring Nigerians that he was still committed to the fight against corruption.
Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, was the continent's biggest oil producer. The 1999 constitution that ushered in civilian government after more than a decade of military rule established a strict federal system, with the 36 states responsible for providing essential services.
But governors, many of whom controlled annual budgets in excess of US$1bn, had been immune from prosecution while in office. That had been cited by many Nigerians as one of the main impediments to fighting corruption.
Yar'Adua, who was governor of a northern state before he won the presidency, had no reputation for personal corruption. But more than a half dozen other governors who left office after the most recent elections had been charged with graft.
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