The Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Hameed Ali, says the Nigerian judiciary is a critical element in the fight against corruption.

Speaking at the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) forum in Abuja on Sunday, Mr. Ali, a retired army colonel, noted that enforcement of relevant rules and regulations was also critical in the fight.

“For corruption to be fought to a standstill in the country, there are components that must work effectively,’’ Mr. Ali stated.

He noted that without effective judicial support in the anti-corruption fight, no matter how well a case was investigated, such a case would die.

The customs boss, however, lamented that at the moment, most politically exposed cases were still pending in courts after several years.

Mr. Ali said that President Muhammadu Buhari had the zeal and commitment to fight corruption but that he had faced severe challenges with the system.

He said the present administration had succeeded in instilling into the conscience of people that corruption was bad.

“Corruption is an area we are still grappling with. It is an area we need to have holistic views of our system. If the judiciary does not work, there is no way anything can happen.

“So we must overhaul our judiciary and overhaul the enforcement and if these two work efficiently, corruption will be fought.

“One of our strong pillars of our promise is that we are going to fight corruption and of course, you know the president is somebody that has a penchant for fighting corruption. He is incorruptible.

“His stance on corruption, especially when he was the head of state, made him standout as somebody who fights corruption.

“Our biggest bane is corruption in Nigeria and if we can reduce our corruption level by 30 to 40 percent, I tell you the progress we will make in this country will be tremendous.

“If you realise, the money that goes out of the system through corrupt practices is humongous and so what we really need to do is to fight this corruption,” Mr. Ali said. 

(NAN)