Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Tuesday recollected how Lagos State achieved zero corruption in its judiciary, saying once a system is in place that punishes bad behaviour and enforces the consequence for misconduct, the people will behave well.
Speaking at the monthly meeting of the Presidential Enabling Business Council (PEBEC) at the State House, Osinbajo stated that “we are at a point when we feel obliged to do our very best” to improve in all the factors that will create an enabling environment for businesses in the country.
“We have to be committed to what we want to achieve. We must develop a system that punishes bad behaviour and reward good behaviour.”
President Muhammadu Buhari established PEBEC to identify and implement the reforms that will improve the business environment in Nigeria, and thereby improve Nigeria’s ranking in the annual World Bank Doing Business global ranking.
Tuesday’s meeting of the council, with nine cabinet ministers in attendance, included an interactive session with the World Bank team led by the Country Director, Rachid Benmessaoud, and other senior officials from the Washington DC head office of the global financial institution.
Continuing, the Vice President recalled how between 1999 to 2007, in Lagos State a reform of the judiciary ended the perception of corruption in that arm of government once the principle of enforcing consequences for bad behaviour was in place.
Osinbajo was attorney general and commissioner of justice under former Lagos State Governor Bola Tinubu from 1999 to 2007.
He said in 1999, lawyers in Lagos, in a survey, said there was corruption in the state judiciary by an overwhelming 89%, and yet no one was being sanctioned.
“So we decided to deal with the situation. In the first year we sacked 21 magistrates and three judges in the second year. By 2007 when we conducted the same survey, the result was o%,” Prof Osinbajo disclosed explaining further that lawyers surveyed responded that there was no corruption in the Lagos State judiciary.
“Nigerians, like any other will behave well, if we put in a system where people won’t get away with misconduct. We are the ones to do it,” he submitted.
Present at the meeting were Industry, Trade and Investment Minister, Okey Enelamah; Attorney-General/Justice Minister, Abubakar Malami; Budget and National Planning Minister, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma; Finance Minister, Kemi Adeosun; Interior Minister, Lt. Gen. (rtd) Abdulrahman Dambazau; Transport Minister, Rotimi Amaechi; Power, Works and Housing Minister, Babatunde Fashola; Information and Culture Minister, Lai Mohammed, and Minister of State for Environment, Ibrahim Usman Jibril.
