Kemi Adeosun, former minister of finance, says Nigeria must address what she described as “institutional inertia” to eliminate corruption from the system.
Adeosun spoke in Lagos on Saturday at the Citadel School of Government (CSG) dialogue series.
In her address titled “The rough road to reforms: The risks, the resistance, the reprisals and the resilient leader,” the former minister blamed the country’s persistent corruption on those who benefit from it.
“Nigeria only needs building of strong institutions to correct human behaviour to stamp out corruption,” she said, adding that the “loopholes in the system” permit a repetitive cycle of fraud.
On reforms, Adeosun cited the whistleblowing policy under late President Muhammadu Buhari as one of the former administration’s successful initiatives.
However, the former minister said she regretted not institutionalising the policy.
“Government policies with legal backing become difficult to change by subsequent administrations that do not like them,” she said.
“Leaders, who are reformers often face institutional resistance and must find ways to overcome such obstacles.”
To overcome resistance, Adeosun said reformers must implement changes in “bullet forms” instead of “cannon balls”.
She added that the reforms must also carry citizens along.
Tunde Bakare, founder of CSG and serving overseer of the Citadel Global Community Church (CGCC), lauded Adeosun for her commitment to serving Nigeria, “in spite of the fire she faced”.
Bakare said the topic would guide future leaders to be resilient and calculative of their proposed reforms.