Human rights lawyer Femi Falana (SAN) has accused the Federal Government of abandoning the fight against corruption.

The lawyer also said corruption will continue to thrive in Nigeria until some bills are passed into law.

Some of the bills according to him are the proceed of the crime bill, the witness protection bill and the whistleblower bill.

He also said the refusal by President Muhammadu Buhari to assent to the federal audit bill was fueling corruption.

He said the war against corruption will only be won if the bills are passed into law.

To win the anti-graft war, he said there was a need to change the narrative by focusing on other sectors that may be breeding corruption rather than just concentrating on public office holders and offices alone.

Falana said there was a need to also focus on human traffickers, drug traffickers, ritual killers, Internet fraudsters who are draining the resources of the country.

He also said the government must set up a body of committed lawyers and practitioners to trace and recover stolen funds which are about $500billion.

He spoke in Abuja on Thursday at the 26th anti-corruption situation room on the State of Anti-Corruption in Nigeria: Assessment of 2021 and setting agenda for 2022 organised by HEDA Resource centre.

Falana said: “The government will have to decide before next year whether it wants to leave a legacy of anti-corruption but right now, the anti-corruption crusade has been abandoned by the government.

“The national assembly that is controlled by the ruling party has not passed the proceed of the crime bill, the witness protection bill and the whistleblower bill. To compound the problem, the national assembly passed the federal audit bill in 2018 but the president refused to assent to it.

“I hope the electoral amendments bill will be signed tomorrow (friday) but the electoral offences commission bill is being jettisoned by the national assembly. So, if you want to fight corruption, you need to ensure that these bills are passed into law.

“More importantly, the government will have to address the gross mismanagement of the economy and the implementation of neo-liberal policies dictated by the IMF and the world bank.

“Without challenging the programmes that promote poverty in our country, you cannot fight corruption. Civil servants do not believe that their gratuity will be paid when they are retiring. They do not believe that their pension will be paid and so, you are inviting them to be corrupt.

“If your take-home cannot take you home, you cannot but be corrupt and that is why the government must address the condition of service, living conditions of Nigerians and also put policies in place that will encourage citizens to fight corruption nationwide.”

On the recovery of funds, he said: “It has been disclosed that the money that has been stolen from this country is not less than $500billion and I have not seen any concrete effort to recover the huge fund.

“What I am suggesting is that the government will need a team of international lawyers, bankers and accountants who can pursue the recovery.

“It requires some expertise and that is not being shown so far and that is why we have not been able to recover substantial funds.”