The federal government has been urged to fish out the Nigerian collaborators in the $11billion arbitration award, P&ID sought to get from Nigeria.
Nigerian journalists have also been urged to be committed to do more investigative stories on corruption cases and ensure such cases are pursued until justice is secured.
These views were expressed at the media training organised by Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA) Resource Centre in collaboration with Journalists For Democratic Rights (JODER) supported by Mac Arthur Foundation, held in Ikeja, Lagos.
The participants spoke on the topic: “Building Public Ownership for Transparency and Accountability in Governance and Service Delivery.”
They noted that failure of journalists to do much investigation on corruption cases makes corruption to persist, and in most cases journalists just break the news of corruption but fails to pursue such cases until justice is done.
Sam Olukoya of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) said the P&ID case should not be closed because the case was decided in favour of the Nigerian government, noting that the case has just started and government should go after the Nigerians, who connived with the company with the aim of defrauding the country.
“The P&ID matter has not closed. Rather, it has just started. Who are the collaborators? People should be made accountable. The case must have happened at the highest level. Who are the people involved? It is a story that would have damaged Nigeria. We should hold everybody accountable. We should go a step further to know,” Olukoya said.
Speaking at the event, Mr Adewale Adeoye of JODER noted that corruption has local and international dimensions, which focus on the life of the people, just as he observed that investigation into corruption cases in Nigeria has reduced.
“We don’t do much investigation on corruption cases, which could have strengthened the fight against corruption,” he said.
