March 19, 2005, 14:45
Nigeria's anti-graft agency has arrested the oil-exporting country's education minister for allegedly bribing lawmakers to approve an inflated budget for his ministry, local media reported today. The independent Thisday newspaper said the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arrested Fabian Osuji on Thursday after receiving a petition that he gave members of the House of Representatives' Education Committee a bribe of 50 million naira ($376 336).
"The minister admitted giving the money to the facilitator for onward delivery to the lawmakers and he was subsequently detained," the paper quoted an unnamed senior parliamentarian as saying. EFCC officials were not immediately available for comment and Osuji is in detention and cannot be reached for comment.
The petition against Osuji came after an opposition member of the lower chamber alleged in February that lawmakers took bribes from ministers and heads of government agencies to pass their 2005 budgets. He was suspended for one month from the chamber dominated by the ruling People's Democratic Party.
OPEC-member Nigeria was ranked in October by Berlin-based sleaze watchdog Transparency International as the world's third most corrupt nation after Bangladesh and Cameroon. Since his election in 1999, Olusegun Obasanjo, the president, has launched a high-profile campaign to improve the image of the world's eighth-biggest oil exporter by setting up anti-graft bodies and passing laws to bring fraudsters to book.
However, campaigners say they have proved inadequate, pointing to continued looting by senior government officials and lack of transparency over huge oil revenues. The judiciary has also yet to convict anyone. - Reuters
|
|
